Fickle Things
by Terakali
Summary: Draga Konungur has finally done it. After over a year with Sora and Shiro he beat Tet, but by wording his wish poorly he became the Fifth Gamer. This story follows his misadventures as a game character. Rated T for eventual themes and occasional swearing. Will be taken down in February pending a rewrite.
1. Introduction

**This is the rewritten version of chapter one, as per my current secondary project. This is the only updated chapter which will be released at this time- the actual rewrite is currently undecided in release, since I can actually edit the thing and publish four novels outright.**

 **That's, uh... Pretty god damn worth the time, and since I'm not earning money off this, it's really going to be based on whether it's sufficiently demanded or not.**

 **Money is useful, but you all are honestly more valuable.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the series or characters of RWBY, I do not own this version of Gamer Jaune, I do not own No Game No Life, I do not own Warhammer 40k and the Chaos Gods, I don't own the Enchanted Cave 2, and I don't own several side characters- although I do have permission to use them.**

* * *

Despite popular belief, the hardest race to conquer had to be the Seiren. Despite being 15th place in terms of magical power, just above humanity- or Imanity, as they were called in this world- and being significantly weaker than the Warbeasts or humans in all areas besides swimming, it was nigh impossible to win.

Not because they were particularly challenging foes to best, mind. The Seirens, simply put, were a cowardly race. They would outright refuse any challengers while laying claim to the majority of Disboard through the oceans.

Now that they were the last race to go, however, that alone wasn't going to stop Exceed.

Seventeen people- all but three inhuman- stood atop the waters above Atlantis, the sunken city they'd named their capital. With a flick of Artosh's wrist, his powers over the water took hold and forced it to part beneath them. A bubble of air was formed around them as they sunk down, allowing the less immortal members of the group to breath.

The city, while completely hidden from the surface, was almost untouched by the waves. Various plants grew upon the marble steps of the capital building, but no a dent or gap was born from the powerful currents rushing past them. Likely an enchantment of sorts, from the race that originally lived on the floating city centuries ago.

The eternal tide aided their passage, filling in behind them as they their descent slowed. With a near-silent step, they strode across the thoroughly soaked soil and into the ancient ruin before them.

A merman greeted them, clearly important based on the crown adorning his head, though that still left it unclear what position he actually held. The Seirens, after all, didn't always have a representative from the royal family. Not helping matters was that the representative hadn't been seen in several decades, given that the other races had long since had given up trying to challenge them.

"Welcome, all of you. I am Charles," he said, the words carrying through the material divide, largely thanks to the aid of Artosh. Being a god of water had its advantages, as did working with one. "I assume you are here to try and challenge me for the race piece?" At his words, the glass chess piece seemed to

Sora had other plans, though, and took a step forward with one hand outstretched. "Actually, no. We are here to welcome you to Exceed, the team that will claim victory over Tet."

Charles took a step back, or he would have if he had legs. Instead, he just kind of floated backwards while looking shocked.

"Y-you... You want us to join you, just like that? No... Game? No conditions or requirements?"

Sora smiled, a genuine grin in contrast to his usual confident smirk. "No conditions- no payment."

Charles nodded, but slowly. After all, a god was standing directly behind them. A formal agreement would be far too risky for him to consent to without writing under normal circumstances, but Artosh's very presence made any declaration into law.

"You want the race piece, yes?"

Sora's grin grew, that being answer enough.

"I won't give it to you, but... I could come with when it is needed."

"No need," a playful voice spoke from somewhere vaguely above the group. "I have come to play."

Everyone looked up to greet the newcomer in varying stages of surprise, the lowest of which belonged to Sora. The mastermind raised a single questioning eyebrow at the infinite god of this world. "Hey, Tet. Ready for round two?"

Tet smiled, looking at the group of representatives. The leaders of the various races, sixteen in all, who had gathered to challenge him for a wish.

Well, all but one of them were those leaders, and it was he who found Tets gaze locked onto them in the end."

"Draga Konungur."

The man in question looked up at that, pointing a single finger at himself. "Uh... Yeah? You mean me?"

A chuckle escaped the childish deity at that, and he floated down to greet him personally. "Oh, yes little one. Would you like to play a game?"

Pure disbelief came over him as he gestured to the group in general "Me? I'm pretty sure even Charles would be more qualified for this." They all handily ignored the indignant 'hey' that the merman gave at that.

Tet smiled softly, glancing over each of them in turn.

"They have all earned their keep and attained the highest status they can. You, on the other hand, are only the king of draws. Come, play with me."

Draga turned to his allies, expecting them to jump at the chance, but they only nodded in acceptance of Tets wishes. Well, except for Artosh- but he was probably just upset that he didn't get to use his god powers to win a race, or something of the like.

Those nods, though... Shiro, who smiled at him in a rare moment of expressiveness; Kirase, the Demonian Prince who he had worked with even before Sora and Shiro landed on this planet; Jibril, who still had problems respecting anyone of inferior magical abilities; and the rest of them, who somehow saw fit to let him play the game.

Sora's nod was last, and it honestly held more meaning than the rest. He was the reason any of this existed, after all. "Go ahead."

Confidence soaring, Draga looked up at the one true God and spoke thus.

"Bring it on, gramps."

* * *

The moment had finally come. Sora and Shiro had been working for a year before Draga came to their aid against the Demonia, and then another year passed before their efforts finally coalesced into this final moment. They were like a tsunami- racing across the land and subsuming entire cultures into themselves as they grew in strength despite the efforts put into stopping them.

All that time, all those plans, and it all came down to a single game.

Draga raised his bishop, placing it down next to his king in the final move.

"Checkmate."

Tet smiled at him, and then the group standing behind him, celebrating the triumph. Being god, he already knew the answer to the question, but he deigned to ask it anyway for dramatic effect, something they all knew he had a flare for.

"Tell me- what do you wish for?"

Draga paused at that, looking back at the people who he had been supporting and who had, in turn, supported him. Though there were new additions, and they didn't always got along, they had stood as a united front to get to this point. For him alone to get a wish...

It took but a second to think of what he wanted. "I wish for us all to have one."

Tet nodded. "And for your second?"

"Then..." Draga paused, thinking back on his life to this point. He'd dedicated the vast majority of his twenty-two years of life to accomplishing this goal: to beating Tet and attaining godhood. But... Did he really want that? Omnipotence would trivialize things- there would be no challenge or spark. The Old Deus had fallen into that, and they weren't even all powerful. No... He needed something better- something that would entertain him until the end of his days. Something... Only Tet could give.

"I wish to play the best game there is for the rest of my life."

Tet slowly raised his hands up, sparks flying from his palms as he seemed to draw heavily from his well of power. "You were reborn into this world... But I guess you shall be reborn again." Tet dropped his hands, and nothing seemed to happen in the moment.

 _Huh..._ Draga thought, looking around, before he caught darkness encroaching on the edge of his vision. Draga quickly turned to Tet, worried that something was wrong, but the deity simply smiled. Tet waves goodbye from above before all light is lost in Draga's vision.

* * *

 **Review replies (In chronological order):**

 **Sovereign: I think I lived up to your expectations, no?**

 **LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: Values are important to the third decimal just for basic calculations (I have equations for things like newtons or joules emitted by each skill) and they are relevant until around sixth in order to calculate those above. Believe me, I know math.**

 **Galeiam: Yes, yes he is. Congratulations, you figured out the entire point of the first timeline. Well done.**

 **WolfofIce88: I can guarantee that, while he does involve a lot of my personality, he is not a Gary Stew. I would be far better at discovering glitches in video games than he is due to his own lack of experience with virtual mediums on top of a ton of other things. To put it another way, Draga from God-? in More Fickle Things is a Gary Stew, and Draga here is deliberately not that.**

 **WolfofIce88: First off, Sasuke would get screwed over. One of the later enemies would look at his Susano, which it is the size of, and laugh because it would passively coat him in infinitely burning flames, thereby granting him infinite healing and strength. Good job. As for weaknesses, a tab containing all the weaknesses he has would completely screw over the plot. If he knew how unobservant or dense he is outside of whatever he's focused on (though that focus can be pretty wide spread), it would just have him fix it right off and make it pointless. Sandblasting a weakness off during the start of a plot is just as bad as getting rid of it before it, if not more so since you bothered to introduce it.**

 **WolfofIce88: Those quirks get revealed later, trust me.**

 **itsMARWIE: Going against higher levels is a thing gamer character do all the time. Abusing your powers to power level is basically your job.**

 **LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: Fixed.**

 **Alarishct: I have written more. Come back and review properly, would you?**

 **itsMARWIE: The white blobs get explained... I haven't done that yet... Right. It will be done eventually, I swear.**

 **Alarishct: Happy holidays to you as well, sir. Thanks for enjoying my story.**

 **kewllewk: SHHH! Don't reveal my secrets!**

 **kewllewk: Sorry about the Xander thing, but it's still from Draga's narrator. It's just, Xander is the one doing things. Also, yes. Omniverse. Shit happens.**

 **kewllewk: Where are you getting implied familiarity from? Also... If you're not familiar with The Gamer, you should go check that out first. Otherwise, I explain everything both relevant and that would be possible to garner within the story if you were there. As for the loot, he's being blessed by Tet and fucked with by a bunch of other powerful beings. Besides that, it's also a Video Game Tutorial, of sorts, set up by Tet. What do you expect? Terrible loot and tough enemies at the same time?**

 **kewllewk: Fair enough. I'll change that in the rewrite.**

 **kewllewk: See above.**

 **kewllewk: I am aware.**

 **kewllewk: Power armor! YEAH! As for the skills, he didn't read em, so you don't get to until later either. It's for narrative purposes.**

 **kewllewk: Yep.**

 **kewllewk: The disparity in power growth here is planned. Essentially, Tet is trying to give him a wild experience and *Redacted* is screwing all of that up from the background.**

 **kewllewk: Thanks for your withholding, but I'd still like actual feedback. Arguing that free movement within a uniform environment isn't following physics is kind of... Donkey nugget. Hey, I like strange terms. Give me a break.**

 **kewllewk: Uh... Nowhere. Believe me. Would I lie to you?**

 **kewllewk: You... You realize that it's both my story and that was planned before Christmas. All I did was add the Christmas theme to the event.**

 **Guest: Why thank you, I appreciate that you were up to review my story.**

 **itsMARWIE: Hehehehehehehehe.**

 **itsMARWIE: :3**

 **Redripper666: Read like 3 chapters before you say that. I did say it's not the average length on the original introduction, after all.**

 **Redripper666: Hence my changes.**

 **Redripper666: It's about even, but you can just skip the skills. It's not like I spend half my time on them.**

 **itsMARWIE: Sort of.**

 **LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: Just read.**

 **LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: See above.**

 **itsMARWIE: Thank you, but the rewrite has already begun.**

 **LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: The brother part is more figurative. Draga does have an actual brother, who hasn't been revealed, but he is not a Gamer.**

 **LaStAnOnYmOuSpRiNcE3XD: :3**

 **ImBoredSoITypeShit: Well, Providence hadn't actually conquer the planet by that time. I plan on delving into RoR at a later date, a far later date, actually. As for why Providence died so quickly, Providence relies on his armor and ability to dodge along with his defense totem to survive within the game. On top of being lower 'level' due to having less training and achievements, armor and dodging mean nothing to lightning. Lightning typically travels at just over 200,000,000 miles per hour. At that speed, it generally hits the ground and dissipates almost instantly. Now, imagine that level of energy repeated over and over again for a second. I'm sorry, but anything with nerves is dead.**

 **J: Bro, his wish was "I wish to play the BEST GAME THERE IS for the rest of my life" not "I wish to play the best game of my life," hence the difference. The game is not based on his perspective, but rather Tet's, and he can see everything Tzeentch is doing. What better game is there than one where you save literally everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, from a corruption such as that? As for the rest of your points, you're totally right. He doesn't want to explore the powers he has because, as he's seen, the game doesn't really have much to punish him with and pretty much only rewards him. Why seek understanding of powers if you're just gonna be given thirty more in a day or two? He isn't describing places either since he's completely apathetic. There is no point. He doesn't care. That's what everything before the few chapters prior to Time-1 was all about, and then he gets a fucking reset. What do you expect?**

 **AddictedDucky: As stated above, the game isn't for him. He isn't grinding, because there don't seem to be consequences and he isn't actually enjoying the game. He enjoys bits and pieces of the worlds he reaches, but it's the people. He left the wasteland because Mesan, the person he became attached to, was no longer there. He doesn't care about the level gap either since being higher level doesn't mean being more powerful in the context of gamer-mob. The soul tearing thing isn't something he's okay with- there's just nothing he can really do about it. If you want more, check out The White King by Terakali on FictionPress.**

 **brockarot: Shit, dude... Did I not make it clear he was an OC? That's on me if not...**


	2. People-1

Draga lands heavily on the earth, the impact knocking his senses loose for the moment. As he groggily stands up, he notices how dark the new location is, barely any light leaking in. That dim light seems to be enough to get his bearings however, as he examines the forest around him.

The trees appear to be literally only oak trees, their leaves creating a thick canopy above him, hence the dim light. The ground is barren, the trees obviously having choked out all other life, such as grass or flowers. There didn't even seem to be moss or mushrooms growing. The oddness is only exacerbated by what he sees when he looks behind him.

In bright multicolored letters, floating up in the air in an arc shape is the word **CONGRATULATIONS!** , some more text underneath it in a smaller font. a moment later, confetti canons start falling from above, going off as they pass the writing, and sequentially vanishing upon impacting the ground, only the confetti remaining. He waits the necessary 15 seconds for this effect to stop before walking closer to the sign-like thing to read the rest.

"You are now the fifth gamer. I, being the most generous god that I am, decided to give you a little help on your way, but the rest is up to you. What kinda bullshit is this? Fifth gamer? Where are the other four then?"

Only after his spiel about the sign does the first message box appear around his character, directly blocking the vision of the now fading letters. The semi-transparent black rectangle shows a map, detailing the location of himself, and two red dots in the distance. The map appears to be 2-D, and as such doesn't display their height, something that becomes obvious as the red dots move past his without anything entering his field of vision.

The appearance of the map does give him some useful information though. First off, it means that at least one of those two dots is another gamer, seeing as that is what he asked. Second, it means that other boxes could be opened with voice commands.

"Options."

Despite his disbelief that this would work, a text box opens up.

 **Map Settings**

 **GUI Settings**

 **Interface Options**

 **Game Settings**

Obviously, being in a game itself, he checks the **Game Settings** for anything useful, but finds it rather lacking. All it seems to have is crap like a **Soundtrack** or **Volume** , stuff he couldn't care less about. Draga then checks the **Map Settings** , figuring he might as well check through it, and finds that there is a 3-D option, but leaves it off for now. Everything else is basically size of color settings and as such, will be left alone for now. He does however note that everything besides him is currently marked in red.

Annoyed at the so far uselessness of the menu, he merely skims through the **GUI Settings** , finding it to be the same. This continues with the **Interface Options** until about halfway through where he finds not only a list of Voice Commands, but also a setting to make it so thoughts count for them. Quickly turning that on, he then opens all the ones that seem like menus. This results in him having open an **Inventory** , a **Status Menu** , and a **Skills List**. The first he looks at is his **Status Menu**. which seems to be the biggest one at the moment.

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LV1**

 **HP: 600**

 **MP: 1800**

 **Str: 9(13.5)**

 **Vit: 8(12)**

 **Dex: 11(16.5)**

 **Int: 16(36)**

 **Wis: 10(22.5)**

 **Luk: 14(21)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

Draga eyes his bounty, being quite impressed with how he started. Thinking back on most RPG's, 10 was the average stat for a human to have. He quickly looked down on himself to confirm that he was, in fact, still human. Sighing from relief he looks back and clicks on his Title, wondering what it does.

 **The Best**

 **Grants the user amazing skill at using any weapon, skill, or magic ability he acquires. This cannot provide proficiency if the tool doesn't have an existing master.**

 **Current Proficiencies:**

 _Well, that sounds useful, but not yet I guess._ He closes that box with the **(X)** in the corner before trying to do the same with his class.

ERRR!

The box fails to open, a red warning box popping up and promptly closing itself appearing in its place. _Ugh... I don't even get to learn what my class is. Fabulous._

He closes the **Status Menu** , glancing at his inventory. While his equipment slots are empty, he seems to be wearing clothes anyway. As an experiment, he rips off his T-Shirt sleeve and throws it on the ground. After a moment of anticipation it dematerializes, as his shirt also repairs itself from the damage. He does this again to confirm it, and it works. _Cool, the clothes your character has in replacement of empty armor slots don't break apart... I wonder about customization though._

Looking at his inventory again, he notices that he has a shortsword, simple leather armor, and a buckler. He equips the sword to test it, and the sword fizzles into existence in his hand. He does the same with the buckler, but refrains from putting the armor on. Despite armor having better defense than cloth, he would rather dodge the enemy or deflect the attack than rely on shear durability.

He just glanced to his skill page when he faceplanted as something crashed into him from behind.


	3. People-2

He rolled to the side and moved his legs in order to get up, preparing for a potential enemy attack, but what he saw ended pretty much all hope of fighting these people.]

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Caelem Argenti, The Pale Rider**

 **[LVL 20]**

 **Alexander [Xander] Grimguard, The Gamer**

It wasn't just the status effects though. The appearances of them were truly frightening. Caelem stood towering over his partner, being 6' 6" which was 8 inches taller than Xander. Adding to the effect of his size were the three pairs of angelic wings shooting from his back, all giving him a wingspan of 12 feet. His frame wasn't exactly impressive, being fairly lanky, but it was certainly bulkier than Draga's own.

Meanwhile, Xander was completely hidden behind a thick metal suit, clearly being far more technologically advanced that anything he'd seen, and was wielding a giant hammer which was glowing ominously.

 **Through careful observation of your surroundings and other people the skill [Observe] has been created.**

Draga ignores that for the moment, eyes fixed on the figures before him. The tension of seeing the two was broken instantly as Xander moves his hand to where it would be scratching his head if not for the suit.

"Sorry about that. Got a bit carried away."

Caelem turns to him, an annoyed expression on his face.

"I can't belief death chose you as a Ghost Rider. You can't even watch where you're going."

"Hehe, I guess your right."

Draga continues to just stare, not exactly stunned, but unable to think of anything to say to the obviously superior people. Xander picks up on this and starts fiddling with the air. A moment later some stuff falls from air, having materialized a foot or so in front of Xander. Sitting on the ground is a **Simple Broadsword** and a book. Still unsure of what's going on Draga questions him.

"What is this?"

"Well, I can tell from your **Title** that you are another Gamer. I figured since you're level 1 you could use something to start with. This is a better weapon than what you got, and this book here is supposed to be an electricity skill or something. I didn't use it since I'm specked for a warrior type."

Draga picks the sword up, pushing the other one into his inventory for now. Draga quickly equips the new weapon before moving to grab the book. The moment his hand touches the book a prompt arises.

 **You obtained the skill book 'Elemental Basics: Lightning'. Would you like to learn this skill?**

 **(Y)/(N)**

Draga pushes yes expectantly, but is surprised when the book breaks apart into light before vanishing. Draga glances to his inventory to find it missing completely. Another pop-up appears, telling him that he had learned the skill.

"Okay..."

Draga checks his skills tab and finds one called **Lightning** , simple labeled **New** , the next for **New** quickly vanishing. He presses a finger against it and yet another pop-up appears.

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level. Current: 1**

 **Current total affinity: 1**

Draga notices that Affinity is in a different color than the rest of the text, so he presses it, a new pop-up appearing.

 **Affinity**

 **Affinity is your attunement to an element, of which there are many. You gain the ability to sense the element from a distance, and can acquire elementals of that kind.**

 **For every point of affinity, up to 200, the user takes 1% less damage of that type, deals 1% more damage, and has .5% mana efficiency while wielding the element. The damage reduction heals when beyond 100%.**

 _Okay... So if I get this ability up to 100 I become immune to electricity, deal double damage, and abilities cost 50% for that element? That's actually really cool._ Draga turns to the pair, having apparently kept them waiting long enough for Caelem to become impatient.

"Come on, lets go. This cave isn't gonna clear itself."

Draga heard what he said, but the gears didn't start turning until they started running off.

"Wait, wait, wait. We are in a cave? But this is clearly a forest, and light is coming down."

Caelem sighs while pinching his nose at being stopped by what he interprets as an idiot.

"Well, it's not a normal cave. This is the Enchanted Cave. We were sent here on a quest by Draco to get to the bottom and find out what's summoning the Hokori. If you weren't sent here for the same reason, how did you get here?"

Before Draga gets a chance to reply, his first quest appears in a much larger text box in front of him.

 **[Alert Quest]**

 **All Is Dust**

 **Go to the place Hokori are being summoned, and help exterminate the Hokori along the way.**

 **Bonus Objective: Defeat the Goliath yourself.**

 **Do you accept this Quest?**

 **(Y)/(N)**

This is the moment Draga made what he later thought back on as his second worst decision. He hit yes.


	4. People-3

After pressing the button, the prompt quickly vanished. Draga think much of it, and simply runs after the pair.

"Looks like I'm coming with you. Got a quest for it and everything."

Caelem looks annoyed that another mere child to him would be partaking in his adventure, and he makes this readily apparent.

"Draga, I am here to get the job done and nothing more. If you die, I'm not pulling you out from the underworld."

Confused at the statement, Draga decides to use his new ability, **Observe** , on Caelem. While most of it simply says I need to either be higher level, or level up the skill, the one thing that matter right now is his occupation, which is shown: **Student Death**. _Death... As in, Grim Reaper: Death. Of all the people to have annoyed with you. Wait... Why am I not freaking out about this? The student of Death is right in front of me._

Draga glanced his open menus for something to explain this, and then realized his skills were still mostly unread. He hails the group to stop while he checks them out.

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 70% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve almost any math problem in 1.98 seconds.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP 14.06% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 1**

 **Current total affinity: 1**

Obviously the first two were responsible for everything that was going on. _I guess the rest are simply carry-overs from my time on Disboard._ Draga only then noticed that the pair he was with had summoned their mounts for faster travel, Xander getting a flaming motorcycle and Caelem getting a pale hairless horse, which is likely the cause of his title. Caelem gestured forward before riding out, his horse being easily able to keep up with Xander's bike. Draga was unfortunately left behind, but thanks to his map he was able to locate them again.

When Draga finally caught up to the pair, they were standing around an obviously out of place red button on a stone pillar. When he approached Caelem instantly warned him off of pressing the button.

"Well what do you think I am, some kind of idiot?"

Draga comes near the button, even feeling around the pillar, as Caelem and Xander discuss options. Draga walks away to join them, but notices that its suddenly a lot hotter in the area. Caelem looks at Draga with an incredibly angered expression.

"You did not just press that button."

"I didn't!"

"Then explain that!"

Caelem says this pointing towards the incredible wildfire now encircling the group. Draga glances up, not having noticed it until this moment, implying that it was moving really fast.

"I don't know, but I didn't press that button."

"Then press it."

"What!?"

"I said press the button. If you didn't press it before, maybe pressing it will fix the problem."

Draga does as he was told, and pressed the button. It worked exactly as he said, clearing away the flames, but not in the most pleasant way. Deep in the woods a beast was unleashed, which let out a cacophonous screech throughout the entire forest, the pitch and volume being just right to eradicate the fires. Draga examines his map, and sees a red dot in the distance, and it was coming towards us faster than either of the other two's mounts.


	5. People-4

Draga cringes from the pain running through him from the screech, his ear-drums being blown out. Luckily the **Gamer's Body** gets rid of physical injury, so a moment later he is recovered besides the health drop. He glances at his map, noting the location of the red dot, and calls to the rest to follow him with a hand gesture. As they are moving, seeing as the beast, whatever it is, is far away, Draga questions Xander about his game system.

"So, what kinda map you got?"

"Map?"

"You have a map function right."

"Be quiet, I was testing if it worked. Apparently I don't have a map. I do however have a translator mechanic that I found."

"Wait, if you are using a translator, how can Caelem talk to me? I thought you all spoke Imanity/Japanese."

"Gift of Tongues. Pretty cool power. You might run into problems with people elsewhere though."

The conversation was cut short as Draga came to a halt. Around 10 feet in front of them was the location of the red dot, and it was clearly on this floor, so... Where was it?

"Can any of you sense invisible things?"

Xander nods, triggering the infra-red vision in his suits visor. It doesn't reveal anything though, which confuses him. Caelem takes this time to interject.

"What's wrong with you guys? It's right there."

Within his perception, it was. Being Death, even the disciple of Death, granted him the ability to sense living things, and perceive them through any methods he had. He lifts his palm to face the creature, and lightning shoots out of it, blasting the creature and making it screech again.

The volume of the creature is so absurd at this range that Xander even was hurt by it, although not by much. After recovering from the shockwave that came from its throat, Draga glances towards where it came from, pulling out his sword and charging it. The creature doesn't attempt to dodge, merely expecting its invisibility to hide its presence.

Being a LVL 1 RPG character, he wasn't strong enough to deal much damage, dropping it by literally 5 HP, but HP was not corollary to physical damage. The gash made in the creature leaked blood, revealing the beasts side to the group, as it let out another screech, blowing Draga away from it. He went a few meters in flight, slamming into a slightly scorched tree, and dropping a good 200 HP from the two sources.

It takes a moment for him to recover, but once he does he notices a pop-up from the action.

 **Through repeated action the ability [Physical Endurance] has been created.**

 **Physical Endurance** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0  
**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 3% damage reduction from physical damage sources.**

Draga doesn't even bother thinking about it before he returns to the fight, watching the following from his semi-standing position.

With even partial vision of the target, Xander was able to make quick work of the beast, charging it with his hammer and slamming it down on the visible wound. Xander pumps MP into his weapon, triggering its secondary effect, and literally smiting the beast. Now dead, it entered the visible spectrum.

Looking at its corpse revealed it to be a bird-like cat, Fading from view, as the game registers its end, was a nameplate that was previously hidden because of its invisibility.

 **[LVL 26]**

 **Koriko, The Assassin Beast**

Draga's mental celebration was cut short as he was bombarded with pop-ups, eight in total, each saying the same thing.

 **Your level as increased by one!**

 _Great... Is this gonna happen every time I help kill something well above me?_ Putting the thought aside, Draga realizes that except the affinity power, he didn't actually have any spells.

"Hey Caelem, can you teach me the move you did there?"

Caelem sighs, and does something Draga never considered possible. He reached into what appeared to be another **Inventory** and pulled out a tablet. Caelem tossed it to Draga, who was unprepared for the 8 pound weight of the thing, and as such fell over with it.

"Feel free to use it. I know of your power from Xander here, and while I didn't give him one of those tomes, I did give him something far more valuable, a God's blessing."

Draga, who wasn't questioning the God's blessing seeing as he also knew death, quickly absorbs the skill-'book', not even bothering to read the notification of what it gave him until the game provided the complete skill.

 **Pale Lightning** **(Active) LVL1 EXP 0.00% MP:100**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a number of lightning bolts from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 _Cool, might as well test it out now, although that price is pretty steep. Probably gonna have to grind it later._ Draga casts **Pale Lightning** , but makes a crucial mistake: Not opening his palm. The blast shoots out of his palm, directly into the other half of his right hand. The numbness and pain quickly fading thanks to his power, Draga is able to avoid the adverse physical effects, but he did lose another 100 HP from his own attack.

Caelem smiles broadly, internally laughing at his 'comrade's' misfortune.

"I did show you how to do it, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Shush."

Draga casts it again, properly this time, and relights one of the trees on fire. Caelem takes the chance to display another of his powers. He floats up to the flames, and places a hand within them. The flames start to disappear, their energy being absorbed by the pseudo-angel. When he finishes the only evidence of it ever happening are the slightly more scorched tree, and Caelem's wings slightly darkening in color, more of a light grey now.

"I take it you can't teach me that."

"Nope. Now lets go, the next floor should have opened up."

Before they can get going though, the beasts corpse starts moving. Xander reflexively raises his hammer, and Draga his sword, but a moment later the tension vanishes. Breaking out of its flesh is a tiny version of itself, unfortunately coated in its parents blood. Odd that it decided to be born now, but that didn't really matter.

Xander makes a move to kill it, but Draga stops him.

"We could just make it a pet or something."

"Do you have a familiar skill?"

"No..."

"Well neither do I. You have fun figuring that out."

"I-"

The conversation is cut off as the ground starts shaking, as if an earthquake was approaching. The movements gradually worsen, only Caelem being unaffected since he was flying. The shaking finally stops for just a moment before a massive worm raises out from the earth where the bird was, consuming it instantly.

As it soars into the sky, a mere 10% of its body already reaching 40 feet into the air, its name becomes visible above its head.

 **[LVL59]**

 **Alagut Furo, The Earthly Drill**

At the 40 ft peak in its movement, it starts falling down towards the group. Despite his vastly higher DEX, when compared to Draga, Xander is unable to dodge the worms rotating maw as it falls, unfortunately going inside. The benefit of being small, and the worm moving down, is that Xander isn't consumed like the bird, merely being bombarded by debris from what the worm is digging through. Xander takes a moment to re-summon his hellcycle, it breaking up out of the dirt, and riding it along the stomachs of the worm, hoping to escape its rear before it traps him under the ground.

Meanwhile, outside the giant worm, Caelem is throwing spell after spell at the thing, trying to find an elemental weakness, but finds none. Draga is being himself, IE incredibly outclassed at the moment, and as such meekly casts **Pale Lightning** at it so he gets an EXP share at the end.

The worm takes a long time for its massive body to complete its first approach, having been disappointed the first time around by only catching two things to eat. Being a worm, it had a slow metabolism, but being large it also needed a TON of food anyway.

Xander made it in the nick of time, popping out from behind the worm a mere 3 feet from the ground. He brakes and gets off, running towards Caelem with his bike seeping back into the ground.

"Caelem, give me wings."

Caelem starts actually flying *Shocker* and stops when behind Xander. He places his hand on his back, powering up the physical manifestation of the blessing. A pair of wings, similar to Caelem's own, grow rapidly from the back of Xanders suit, seemingly unaffected by the metal barrier. He floats up, able to ignore the returning effects of an earthquake, seeing as he wasn't on the ground anymore. When he reaches the same height Alagut got before, he stops, waiting for his return.

He doesn't have to wait long, as the creature rushes up, narrowly missing Draga, and becoming a prime target for Xanders attack. Xander swings his hammer, dumping the vast majority of his own mana pool into his hammer to create a truly divine smite. When it impacts the front of the worm, it bats it away like an insect.

The impact to its front is more devastating to it than can be seen. The teeth inside its mouth were not attached in the strongest of ways, having been used for a long time on the hard stone of the earth. Because of this, the impact blows a large number of his teeth from their sockets, slicing him up internally down large chunks of his body. While his HP bar didn't have a specific value attached to it, using **Observe** revealed that he was around 20% HP from that blow alone. Unfortunately, it would be able to recover if it escaped and Xander wasn't gonna be able to repeat that.

This is the moment when Caelem finally steps into the ring himself, placing a hand along the fast moving surface of the worm.

"Death Touch."

Anywhere his hand touches along its body starts turning black, the necrotic effect spreading. This saps at its health for a few seconds, draining it the rest of the way before it can even dig itself away.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

Unlike the last fight, Xander also gained levels, although less since he was higher than Draga. This is only further pressed when he finds items on the ground next to Alagut's corpse. Xander picks up the skillbook, seeing as he had no use for the rest of what he saw, and left the stuff to Draga who hadn't gotten around the body yet.

Draga would be a minute, as he was reading some more notifications that popped up during the fight.

 **The skill [Pale Lightning] has risen by 1 level.**

 **Through special action the ability [Detect Bloodlust] has been created.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Through special action the ability [Stealth] has been created.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 11% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 13% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

Eyeing his prizes took him quite some time, but the worm was rather large, being over 400 feet long and 50 feet wide, so maneuvering around its corpse took around the same time.

When he finally got there he saw a sword, roughly the same size as what he had, but colored red and appearing sharper on its own.

Beside the weapon there was also a set of armor, clearly going for the knight style, if not for the red cape and black coloring.

He puts the armor in his **Inventory** , seeing as he probably couldn't use it right now, and goes to pick up the sword. When he does, a pop-up occurs... And it doesn't look very good.

 **Corrupted** **(Low)**

 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**

 **Doesn't affect highest stat.**

 **+20% to lowest stat.**

 **-5% other stats.**

"Xander... I just got a status effect that's buffing my lowest stat, doing nothing to my highest, and reducing the rest. Can you think of a way to counter it?"

Xander thinks for a moment.

"You haven't awoken your aura yet, have you?"

Draga quirks his eyebrow at him.

"No... What's an aura?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Stand still for me."

Xander walks over and presses his palm against Draga's chest. A sort of energy flows between the contact, awakening something within Draga. The strange feeling of power he feels is only emphasized by the newest in his procession of pop-ups.

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per minute**  
 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**  
 **Passively increases STR by 30%.  
Passively increases DEX by 30%.  
Passively increases VIT by 30%.  
Passively increases INT by 30%.  
Passively increases WIS by 30%.  
Additional 30% increase to STR when activated.  
Additional 30% increase to DEX when activated.  
Additional 30% increase to VIT when activated.  
HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

Draga eyes the frankly incredibly broken ability for a second before looking towards Xander.

"What's Remnant?"

"I'll show you some other time. For now, we got another floor to go to."

Draga nods, following him with his new sword placed in his inventory. He still hasn't put any points anywhere, hoping to get some free points off of exercise or something. It's kinda odd that nothing has been gained for free yet, actually.

It takes a long time to find the next tunnel, but luckily for them it was uneventful. They follow it into the next area, completely content that their powers can save them from anything this place throws at them. Why they walk, Draga is using the Active on **Aura** just to level it up faster.

They finally reach the next room, only to be blocked in from behind by a hitherto unnoticed stone gate. They appear to be trapped in a hallway with seven doors, numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The gate also has the number 20 on it.

"Onwards and forwards."

Leading the group, Caelem went through door 8.

 **I am gonna cut the chapter here, seeing as it is around 3 times as long as the others. I will be attempting to make the chapters this long in the future instead of the rapid posting. Apologies for the long wait for this, I got hit with school scheduling and athletics dropping basically all the time I had. Also, I would like people to review my story, even in its tiny state compared to the end result.**


	6. People-5

When they entered the first room, the door closed automatically behind them, seeming to vanish into the wall once closed. A moment passes before a riddle becomes apparent in the wall.

 **"I am the angel that made you, I am the demon that killed you. I am the god that blessed you, and the truth that cursed you. What am I?"**

Xander screams profanity at the universe, calling them out on their bullshit, and Draga comes up empty, having no idea how to put in an answer even if he had it. Shortly before their arms gave out, which would crush them, Caelem says the most critical word to the group at the time.

"Life."

The walls retreat, only a small portion of the way, to allow them back out the door, which had reappeared just then, that they came from. When they looked at the gate, the number had dropped from 20 to 12.

"Okay, so we gotta get 20 points, and the numbers on the door determine the point values, I guess? Lets do 1, 4, and 7 then. That will add up to 20."

Draga looks to the group for replies, but doesn't get any through words, instead Xander just opens the number 1 door and walks in. Caelem and Draga follow behind, arriving a moment later. Once again, the door locks behind them before the room is actually unveiled.

This time around, the room was actually quite pleasant. The boundaries were made of a sparkling marble, with a pool taking up half the room, and a mysterious light coming from above. Walking to the edge of the pool, they can see through the pristine waters to the bottom.

Draga takes that back, this room was not pleasant. At least it was straight forward, but pleasant it was not.

Down at the bottom of the pool was a key, obviously meant to unlock the door. Above it, filling the 60 feet deep, thirty feet long, and 60 feet wide pool were a veritable army of sharks, none of which were normal. Excluding level variance, this was above all of their heads.

 **[LVL 18]**

 **Torpedo Shark**

Not bothering to create a plan, Xander leapt into the waters, his suit being heavy enough to drag him down. The sharks bit at him, dealing minor HP damage but not actually damaging him significantly. Seeing their lack of effectiveness, the sharks get clever. Instead of biting him, they start ramming him from below, stopping his decent and continuing to gradually chip at his HP. Being underwater, Xanders mobility was severely limited, so he couldn't really do much but tank it until he came up with a plan. When the next one rammed him, he pushed himself along its side, grabbed its fin, and forcibly turned it downward.

A commonly unknown fact about sharks is that if they stop swimming they die, so they can't intentionally stop (There are a few exceptions, but they use underwater air vents to simulate movement. They need the movement to breath, pretty core thing).

With this plan, the shark is forced to bring Xander down, Xander's strength overpowering any attempt it had to turn a different way. While going down, Xander discovered why they were called Torpedo Sharks. They went FAST when going straight. The shark slammed into the base, throwing Xander off itself in the process. Being on ground Xander was able to make it over to the key, and put it inside his inventory.

Now came the hard part. Gravity would pull him down, but that worked both ways. The sharks went higher up to avoid him, giving up on the difficult meal, and not giving him an exit. Xander may be a Gamer, but he did need to breathe. After around a minute of being underwater Xander's HP started ticking down... And down... And down... It would last a while, but even with his ridiculous HP regen it was dropping.

 _God dammit... What do I do? I can't swim without ditching the armor, but then I'll be trapped in here with those things._

He keeps thinking on it as above Draga comes up with an idea. It might be dangerous to Xander is the issue, but no time to think about that now. Xander was tough after all.

Draga holds his palm out towards the water, followed by spamming **[Pale Lightning]**. This shocks the sharks, not dealing a whole lot of damage to them, but apparently making them docile, likely having fried nerves or parts of their brain for the moment. _**So at least injuries function normally for game creatures. Does this mean if I kill them normally, they die in the game?**_

He didn't get another moment to think of it when Xander blasts out of the water, having stripped his armor the moment the sharks froze using his inventory and then sequentially leaping up and out. Key in hand, Xander walked to the door and let them out. Like it was predicted, the gate out now said 11.

"4 and 7 was it?"

Xander, like before, just walks straight into door 7. The group following behind is met with an eerie sight. The entire room is dark except for the dim light coming off a pentagram on the far wall. When the group fully enters a demon steps out from inside the wall.

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Mewujudkan, The Nothing In The Dark**

Xander looks at it for a second before noticing an inconsistency in the light behind it. It was hard to tell because the demon was in the way of the rune, but then something changes. Behind it a very clear number appears in a massive font. Glowing a vibrant purple, only partially obscured by the easily 20 foot tall creature due to its sheer size, is the number 5. A second passes, and the number changes to four.

Xander panics, wasting 2 seconds before Gamer's Mind comes in. Caelem isn't even reacting, knowing what Asmodeas is and content with the fact that he can't be killed by it. Draga examines the rest of the room, finding it barren.

2 seconds left on the clock and Xander raises his weapon, prepared to defend himself. Caelem continues to do nothing, content with their deaths as he's grown numb to the pain over centuries. It was this time that Draga remembers something. In the previous rooms, the doors locked or vanished entirely. He didn't hear anything, so he turns around, blowing off his second to last tick.

With his last second, Draga notices the still open door, and grabs the pair by the scruff of their necks, throwing them out and running forward.

But he doesn't make it across the threshold himself.

The door closes, leaving Xander and Caelem alone on one side, and Draga on the other.

Draga turns towards the demon, the timer having vanished from the wall as the room lights up a relatively bright red.

It smiles, the sharp teeth in its mouth forming an intimidating site.

Draga, without turning away, reaches for a handle on the door, but doesn't find one.

 **"You will not escape me, mortal."**

A shrill whistle occurs outside, one of the pair obviously attempting to break down the door with some sort of weapon. The demon doesn't react to the developement, seemingly content in the durability of the entrance.

 **"If that door could hold me, then it can certainly hold beings beneath me. Any last-"**

It stops talking, something behind Draga diverting his attention. Draga himself turns around only to find the door missing in its entirety. Caelem is the first to speak.

"MAN, that thing was heavy. Good thing I'm technically a god."

The demon stands dumbfounded for a moment before cackling. Draga couldn't see what happened, having been looking the other way, but the door was shrunk in the space it occupied, almost in a vortex, before being moved out of the way by Caelem.

 **"Interesting, INTERESTING! You have freed me mortals. I shall save you for last. For now though, I have some unfinished business to take care of."**

The immortal takes a step forward, and then vanishes, moving so quickly as to pass even Caelems perceptions. It seems to appear behind the party before its previously black 'skin' turns a similar red to that of the room. It mumbles something about 'freedom' before vanishing once again.

 **New title as been unlocked: "Villain Monologue"**

 **You have experienced a super-villain giving a monologue and now know how to make them do it. If an enemy has an overwhelming advantage over you and can speak with you, they will do a monologue before killing you.**

 **This title has automatically been equipped.**

Draga glances at the title. As useful as it seemed, most of his enemies wouldn't be able to talk to him, right? It was better than nothing, he guessed. His previous title didn't really give him anything right now so he'd keep the new one equipped. That brought another thing to mind, could he change his class if he got a new one? That was an interesting thought. Regardless, it was time to continue. With only one room left, they just walked in as before. The fourth room, with the number four. Fitting.

For the first time since entering the cave, Draga was actually happy with what he saw. Along the back wall of the room were eight different chests, all seemingly identical to the rest. Xander, feeling he deserved something for his efforts, walks up to the first chest and opens it.

The interior of it glows a vibrant red before exploding in his face, blowing him all the way into the far wall, a large crater being blown into it on impact. Even through his armor his comparatively massive healthbar dropped by over 20%.

The smoke from the explosion obscures the room for the group, and they hear wood moving along the stone ground. When it finally settles all of the chests appear to be in the same position, except all of them are closed and unmarked.

"What the hell! It blows up stronger than my god damn hammer, and not a mark on it! BULLSHIT!"

In his rage, he walks towards the far left chest again. He internally groans at what he sees inside: A red glowing effect. A moment later he is sent sailing again, crashing into the wall. _Okay... So despite rearranging themselves, they can be anywhere. We also have no idea if there are multiple of those... Best to be safe and hope we find the key in time._ A moment passes before Draga comes to a thought. _If they weren't alive, they must arrange themselves mechanically. In this method, it wouldn't make sense for it to repeat itself... Unless it never changes... Wait._

"Xander, recover for a moment and open the first chest."

"WHAT!? It's just gonna blow up in my face again!"

"Just trust me. I can figure something out if you do."

Xander sighs, clearly exasperated, but does as he was told. After a half-minute or so of recovering his HP back over 75% he walks up to the first chest, only for a new interior to show itself. Inside the chest, rather than an explosion, are a disgusting collection of the **[Observe]** tells him are cow eyeballs and tongues. It does say that the tongues are useful for cooking though, so he takes those out and places them into his **Inventory**. Xander, not having a item limit for his inventory (Draga can hold 50 different stacks of items, with no limit on the stacks, plus equipment slots), just dumps the eyes in his. A moment later the stares he receives makes him explain himself.

"Hey, you never know when I might need these. Hell, might even be useful for baiting animals and stuff. Anyway, lets continue."

Xander opens the second chest, immediately taking arrow fire at a rapid rate. Luckily his suit deflected the arrows, knocking them sideways harmlessly. He stops the function by pulling all the arrows left inside out, dropping them in his **Inventory** as well. Leaving the already fired, and likely damaged, arrows on the ground, he moves to the third chest, opening it as well. An inviting red glow comes out. _Shit..._

For the third time this room, Xander is sent flying.

"Draga, why don't you deal with this shit?"

Draga, not exactly happy to rush into these chests not knowing when one might explode and instakill him, politely refuses.

"Well, I guess we're gonna be here a while then. I'm not doing that shit again."

Loudly voicing his opinion on that through a groan, Draga glances to Caelem who shrugs his shoulders.

"Nothing this room could offer will be of value to me."

Nodding to Caelem, Draga begrudgingly moves to open the far left chest again. He is pleasantly surprised when it isn't a trap. Inside is a set of medieval full plate, colored in a dark black with silver trimming, and adorned with a black cape. Using **[Observe]** on the armor before putting on the armor only reveals that each piece is part of the **Runie's Set** , some kind of armor collection. Draga, figuring what the hell, puts the armor on through his **Inventory** , the equipment resizing itself to fit his lanky frame. When he finishes equipping it all a pop-up appears.

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**

It's only when he fully removes the set of armor from the chest that he see's a necklace underneath it. Using **[Observe]** again, making it level up, he learns about its absurd usefulness if he builds magic.

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace previously owned by a man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user .5% increased MP per Int point. This effect may affect other energy resources.**

Draga then goes to the second chest, opening it and finding it empty, likely one of the ones looted before. Kinda sad when you think about it, infinite loot would be pretty cool.

It's only when he opens the third that he gets the taste of what Xander went through. Thanks to the new armor he acquired, Draga didn't quite die. Sitting on a measly 10 HP, Draga taps out on chest searching.

Xander, being able to see Draga's healthbar, recognizes the danger doing it again would put him in, and as such steps up to continue. Starting at the right this time, Xander opens his next chest. Inside he finds three rings, all identical and named **Kembar** and three skill books. Calling Draga over to act as a test-dummy for the equipment, he places one of the rings directly onto his finger. Without the game's interference, the ring resizes itself to the finger, and glows an ominious blue upon completion.

Despite the foreshadowing effect of the glow, nothing actually happens. Slightly disappointed, Draga uses **[Observe]** himself, but acquires no useful information on it either. He tries putting a second one on, but a pop-up appears when he tries to, and the ring actively resists being put on him.

 **Only one Kembar may be equipped at a time.**

Well, a bad ring wouldn't have that condition, right? He moves onto the books, Xander nodding his permission to take them. Unless they were specifically good for his kit, he wouldn't take the skills from the newbie. A series of pop-ups appear in Draga's vision as he picks them up.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [Virulent Scourge]**  
 **Would you like to learn this skill?**  
 **Y/N**  
 **You have acquired the skillbook [Electrical Silhouette]**  
 **Would you like to learn this skill?**  
 **Y/N**  
 **You have acquired the skillbook [Electrical Storm]**  
 **Would you like to learn this skill?**  
 **Y/N**

He quickly accepts the set of skills, happy to acquire them.

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per minute**  
 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a fluid human… Ugh.**  
 **Passively causes damage from contact with water. (Damage =500x%OfBodyCoveredxCurrentElectricalAffinity)**  
 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**  
 **Passively sets base Dex to 100**  
 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**  
 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 10%**  
 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**  
 **Disableable.**  
 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**  
 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100**  
 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**  
 **Current % from trigger:1%**

The moment he acquired **[Electrical Silhouette]** Draga's perceptions of the world skews. It's almost as if time slows down for him, going around a third as fast as a moment ago. What confuses him is how his better agility would translate to faster perceptions. Regardless of the effect, he glances to the **[Virulent Scourge]** ability. _I had Corruption or something didn't I?_ Using all of his mana on the ability, Draga boosts his **Corruption** status effect up a level.

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

"Whew... This is substantial. If I get this to High... Maybe Max, I don't know, it might become one of the super-boost things on my list."

Not realizing he was talking to himself, Draga goes to check his status screen, something he hadn't done since he started.

 **Apologies for not providing updates on this regularly. I'm gonna be leaving a status screen at the bottom of each chapter from now on. As such, this is also the end of this chapter. Sorry about my lateness with this. School, chores, houseguests, and a variety of other things have taken up my time and I just couldn't bring myself to write. PLEASE REVIEW! I need feedback to improve, and would even be cool with actively rewriting my chapters based on your opinions.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV13**

 **HP: 1092**

 **MP: 2550**

 **Str: 9(15.795)**

 **Vit: 8(21.84)**

 **Dex: 100(234)**

 **Int: 16(42.12)**

 **Wis: 10(26.325)**

 **Luk: 14(18.9)**

 **Points: 84**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 70% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL2 EXP 14.06% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 12**

 **Current total affinity: 12**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL2 EXP 26.14% MP:98**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 99.99% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 3% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 8.11% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 11% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 13% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 87.90% MP:100, 100 per minute**  
 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**  
 **Passively increases STR by 30%.**  
 **Passively increases DEX by 30%.**  
 **Passively increases VIT by 30%.**  
 **Passively increases INT by 30%.**  
 **Passively increases WIS by 30%.**  
 **Additional 30% increase to STR when activated.**  
 **Additional 30% increase to DEX when activated.**  
 **Additional 30% increase to VIT when activated.**  
 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 3.60% MP:1000, 1000 per second**  
 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**  
 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**  
 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**  
 **Passively sets base Dex to 100**  
 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**  
 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 10%**  
 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**  
 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL6 EXP: 46.09% MP:100**  
 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**  
 **Current % from trigger:6%**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Off-Hand: Simple Broadsword - Given by Xander this sword is just as its name says. Nothing special.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Runies Helm - A black medieval looking helmet. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Chest: Runies Guard - A black medieval looking breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Legs: Runies Greaves - A black medieval looking pair of leggings. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Feet: Runies Boots - A black medieval looking pair of boots. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Wrists: Runies Gauntlets - A black medieval looking pair of gauntlets. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Hands: Runies Gloves - A black medieval looking pair of hand guards. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2: None**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Back: Runies Guard cont. - A large cape and a continuation of the breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**


	7. People-6

Draga glares at his stats for a second.

 **Level: LV13**

 **HP: 936**

 **MP: 2550**

 **Str: 9(15.795)**

 **Vit: 8(18.72)**

 **Dex: 100(234)**

 **Int: 16(42.12)**

 **Wis: 10(26.325)**

 **Luk: 14(18.9)**

He had 84 points to work with. He should probably upgrade some things.

"Draga, you popping your points in?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Try and get stats to 50. I get skills that way, but with the differences in our systems I wouldn't know for sure."

With that in mind, he has to think of what to upgrade anyway. **Dex** was out, since he literally couldn't upgrade it right now. **Luk** was out since he didn't want to rely on chance, but cold hard math. _Warrior or mage build... Don't wanna go mixed class, at least for now._

Thinking back to his new skills, he could barely use them because he didn't have mana. Checking back he saw he had 50 HP per **Vit** and 50 MP per **Int**. If he raised his **Int** to 50 he would actually be able to use the new skills for a few seconds, and still have 50 points left to spend. Deciding to fill **Wis** to 50 as well, Draga dumps 34 points into **Int** and watches as a pair of pop-ups appear.

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can construct shapes out of mana. The designs are limited only by your mana total and your imagination, although their uses are limited by their form. These objects must be connected to the users body in some way.**

 **Create any desired shape from mana. Speed of objects is relative to Int.**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

Committing to his earlier thought, Draga raises **Wis** to 50, granting him two additional skills and leaving 10 points behind.

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 1%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 3 or .5%, whichever is larger.**

 **Lotus (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP:0**

 **The user has become attuned to the whole of mana, being able to draw upon the mana pervading existence to replenish oneself.**

 **Grants the user 100% increased mana regen per stack.**

 **Grants the user 150% increases mana regen per stack instead while in a magic rich environment.**

 **Allows the user to determine if an area is rich in magic.**

Draga, who decided to test that last effect right then, is almost instantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of magic present in the environment. The entire cave system seems to be rich with the stuff, to the point of being perceived not as a dim blue glow, but as a blinding light in comparison to his own stores. After taking a moment of stumbling around to recover, Draga glares dangerously at his console for essentially tricking him into doing that.

"Xander, whatever you do, don't trust the game."

Moving on, Draga glances towards his stats for the last time. With his remaining points he raises Vit to 13 and Str to 14, figuring it would help him in the whole NOT DYING category.

"We better get a move on. This cave isn't gonna clear itself."

While traveling behind the pair out the gate and further down some tunnels, Draga tests out his other two new skills. **[Electrical Storm]** levels up on its first use, creating a bright shape made out of electricity when he does. Despite what should have been a ridiculous drain from the ability, his mana bar doesn't drop quite as fast. Draga stops the ability after five seconds, it leveling again afterwards. This also levels his affinity skill.

A moment passes, allowing Draga to test his regen. It appears to be going up by 68 or so a second. _Wait... Does that mean I could keep_ _ **[Aura]**_ _active for a long time, thereby leveling it up and making it cheaper? Sweet, but for now I should probably test_ _ **[Electrical Silhouette]**_ _._

And he does so. The moment the ability triggers, time seems to stop for him. He loses his ability to feel, smell or taste, but a ton of new sensations wash over him, including the ability to sense the location of nearby creatures. As odd as it seems, it wasn't exactly the animals he was sensing, but their bioelectrical components, like nerves or neurons. Besides that, nothing is moving. He moves his arm, clearly able to move in this odd state, but when it passes his field of vision it takes a seemingly long time for it to actually be seen.

Most people don't know this, but electricity can actually move close to if not the speed of light. **[Gamer's Mind]** adjusted his perception speed to match his " **Dex** " but that doesn't change the laws of physics. In this odd state, he wouldn't see anybody else that was in this state, although that applies to others as well. Thankfully, he would still sense people moving this fast if they had electricity running through them, but it would take some getting used to. Deciding to play a joke on the pair, Draga floats through the air straight past Xander and Caelem followed by turning off the ability right there. For all Xander could see, Draga had just teleported, although Caelem was able to sense the lingering energy in the air, and actually absorb it himself.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Draga tries to calm down his friend, raises his hands complacently to try and stave him off of breaking his skull open with his reflexively raised hammer. Caelem smirks watching what happens, his schadenfreude bring catharsis to him.

After a moment, Xander's **[Gamer's Mind]** kicks in, making the panic go away and allowing Draga to explain what happened to his ally.

"So... You can basically travel the speed of light now? HOW IS THAT BALANCED! Gaia, give me something broken as crap too!"

The universe wasn't very happy about his demand, and to Xander's dismay (having been scarred by these in the past floors [More than just the one Draga was there for]) a big red button on a pillar is the only thing in the next room.

"NO! NO! No, no, no, no, no no no, no, no. Nope, fuck this, I'm out."

Before Xander can walk back out of the room, Caelem hits the button with a big fat smirk on his face. Further adding to Xander's permanent hatred of buttons, the button triggers a collapse of the walls of the tiny room, the open space revealing a massive cavern. The room is over 100 meters tall, and 200 meters in diameter. It was a massive cavern, decorated by Gothic architecture, something Caelem was admiring despite the presence of enemies.

Standing in a group along a strip of wall, is a group of powerful named enemies. Hoping to get more information through **[Observe]** than just the nameplate, Draga uses it on them all.

 **[LVL 46]**

 **Vagrant, The Wanderer**

 **A giant flying jellyfish. It doesn't have much mass, allowing it to propel itself through the skies. It normally wanders, but has been imprisoned within the cave for a long time.**

 **[LVL 48]**

 **Borban, Colossal Golem**

 **A stone golem, composed of many smaller golems. The monsters footsteps cause quakes and it can summon other golems. A golem doesn't simply live however, it must seek out power to survive.**

 **[LVL 45]**

 **Moporta, The Imp Lord**

 **The lord of all Imps. The creature has mastered the art of teleportation to such a degree that it can teleport masses besides itself. It can also use this as a weapon but creating beams that teleport the matter hit into a destructive dimension.**

 **[LVL 47]**

 **Acid Beast, Acrid**

 **A smaller specimen, generated from a lab, of an alien species. Acrid has become infested, now able to produce both acids and diseases.**

 **[LVL 46]**

 **The Hunter, Speclar**

 **A man who has master the art of the hunt, previously bent on hunting the creatures within the cave he was corrupted by the magic and is now bent on destroying everything else.**

 **[LVL 49]**

 **The Cremator, Tortu**

 **A massive magical turtle which normally lives inside of magma but has cooled to become a normal 60 feet long turtle.**

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Providence**

 **?**

The group of obviously boss monsters doesn't attack the group right off, merely looking their way as if judging their strengths. The one Draga couldn't identify is leaning against the wall, seemingly bored and ignoring the trio.

Caelem makes the first move, walking towards the group with open arms. Using his gift of tongues, he speaks to all of them at once.

"Greetings mortals. I am Caelem Argenti, and we bear no ill will against you. If you let us pass, we will let you go."

Acrid moves, revealing a tunnel exit behind him. Problem is, he wasn't moving out of the way. He was charging towards Caelem with a new bloodthirsty look in his eye. The 6 foot long green Rhino-lookalike barreled down on Caelem at 45 MPH, the rest of the group ignoring his antics for the moment, and still merely observing. When Acrid finally reaches Caelem and opens his mouth to snare him in his maw, Caelem jumps into the air above it, floating a good 20 feet above the beast. For the first time since entering, the bosses (Except Providence) attack as one.

The Colossus, being so large, only needs to take one step to enter battle. The problem is with how stiff and bulky its body is, it takes a long time for it to do so.

The Cremator charges Xander and Draga, intent to keep them busy for the rest of them. Despite its impressive size and the animal it is modeled after, it travels significantly faster than Acrid was, reaching the group in a measly two seconds. Caelem meanwhile is bombarded by projectiles on three fronts. Vagrant was shooting bioluminescent disks from its body at him, the various colors obviously meant to distract him from their lethality. Down below Acrid was spewing a green caustic substance up at him. Finally, the Imp Lord was creating portal-pillars up around him to places of destruction.

Caelem, being the stingy bastard he was, doesn't even try and dodge the attacks. Instead he turns himself into smoke, the disks passing right through him along with the caustic spittle. The only problem with this defense is the smoke becomes tainted by the fluid that passes through it, turning a sickly green color.

Once Caelem reforms, large chunks of his body are affected, pain wracking his entire form. Determined not to get hit by that again, Caelem pulls out one of his weapons for the first time, a pair of flintlock pistols. A significant difference between these pistols and the ones they are modeled after, is that these don't need to reload. He can infuse magic into them to create everything it needs to fire, and even make the attacks elemental. He aims his guns downward, pulling their trigger the moment the target was within their sights.

The missiles shot out travel faster than anyone in the room can perceive, shooting directly through the skull of Acrid and tearing a massive hole through most of his body. This happens twice, killing the beast instantly.

Xander, being the one equipped to handle the charging turtle, leaps into the air, his hammer in hand, and falls towards its head. Pulling it back before slamming it hard into its face, Xander crushes its skull with the hammer, holy lightning decimating its brain into mulch.

2 down, 5 to go.

Now revealing himself behind the beast as the Hunter, shooting what looked like a smoke grenade out of his weapon. It was difficult to pin down what exactly he was using... It had so many components it could theoretically shoot anything. The only part recognized, besides the grenade launcher, was used a mere second later.

Gunfire rained down on Xander's armor, chipping it and dealing around 60 damage a shot to him. Xander attempts to run away, but somehow the Hunter keeps track of him in the smoke.

Taking this as his chance, Draga turns into electricity and moves behind the visibly unmoving Hunter. He materializes and still unknown to his enemy, Draga thrusts his weapon to impale the enemy.

The attack works, but despite having originally been human, the wound wouldn't be enough to end him.

The Goliath finally lands it's step.

The entire room shakes on its landing, the 200 foot tall behemoth creating a crater in the stone floor. Excluding Providence, the Colossus himself, and the flying creatures, the things inside are flung away from the point of contact. Even Caelem and the Vagrant feel the vibrations despite being mid-air.

Xander manages to enter a four-contact slide to stop his momentum. Draga and the Hunter aren't so lucky. Before either of them get a chance to act, they slam into the Cremator's corpse, impaling the Hunter yet again, and sending Draga flying over it. Impacting into the wall, Draga coughs up blood. He ignores the notification of physical endurance leveling up, along with the two notifications that he'd leveled up, in favor of fighting again.

He fires lightning at the vagrant from the ground, having stuck himself in place. He spams the ability over and over again, leveling it up several times as his mana drains. The Vagrant gets hit repeatedly, falling to the ground and dying on impact.

Noting its allies dying rapidly, the Imp decides to leave the combat altogether. It enter a meditative state, a pulse firing out from its body and pulling Caelem and itself somewhere else in the cave system.

Leaving only the Colossus and Providence as bosses in the room, one of which was still lazily leaning against the wall, Xander and Draga were in high spirits. Xander leaps high into the air, reaching the knee of the massive golem, and slams his hammer into it.

The attack does almost nothing.

Leaving only a dent with his attack, admittedly not charged with the divine lightning, Xander decides to go for a more obvious tactic. His wings, previously awakened by Caelem and never closed, open themselves to their full wingspan, allowing Xander to float up way above the Colossus.

Finally reaching the ceiling, Xander readies his weapon for a dive against the Colossus, aiming to blow its skull to pieces with the power of gravity.

It was that moment the ceiling broke open, and a 400 pound Orc behemoth slammed into Xander, grabbing his leg mid fall, and smashing him into the nearest thing: The Colossus.

The force of gravity had nothing on the force of an enraged Orc falling at well over 80 MPH and having literally broke his way through several floors worth of stone in order to take is rage out on something.

Orc's were not happy creatures. Being teleported into a new area with his companions left behind?

Doomsday has returned.

The Colossus's upper body burst from the force, the structure having imperfections due to its sheer size to begin with. As the Orc and Xander fell further, the Orc still using Xander as a weapon to beat his way through the stone of the giant Golem, Draga catches a look at his nameplate, and even gets an **[Observe]** off.

 **[LVL 34]**

 **Thrak, The Breaker**

 **A noble Orc who's entire clan was killed besides himself. He is easily sent into an extreme rage and is hard to deal with then, but while outside of it he is a reasonable person. Thrak does not rely on magic, despite it being available, and instead crushes all those before him with his incredible strength and tenacity.**

 **Currently in rage.**

For the first time since entering the cave, Draga laughs. It was absurd. The Colossus was a creature Xander couldn't hurt without doing things Draga couldn't, and even then was significantly stronger than him. This new Orc effortlessly defeated both Xander and the Colossus. _Wait... What are those?_

Coming out of the Goliath's "Corpse" were many smaller golems, ones that were only level 18 and were also only his size. Thrak, having run out of downward momentum for his continued cleaving, stops and starts smashing the golems to bits instead, his rage being more than sufficient to fuel him for days.

It took several minutes of obliterating golems left and right for them to stop appearing out of the stone, likely killed completely. This thought is only further pushed by the arrival of 3 more levels on Draga's side.

Thrak, not knowing of Providence or Draga's existences yet, believes all the enemies to be gone and as such his rage subsides. He looks at the weapon he had been using, and find it to weight less than it did before. So much so that they damage he dealt to it wouldn't account for it. He sets Xander down, having incidentally killed him, whose death would make him leave the cave, and surveys the room. He locates Draga first, and hulks himself into the air only to land 10 feet from the relatively puny human.

"Where is Thrak?"

"What?"

"Where is Thrak."

"You don't know where you are? We're in the Enchanted Cave, at least according to the ally you just used as a beat stick."

"Thrak need escape. You lead the way."

"Lead the way out of the cave? Uh..."

Despite the intimidating form in front of him, Draga wasn't scared. He was tense, sure, but the fear he felt when the Orc appeared was gone completely. If it wasn't for that he wouldn't have been able to say the next line to the guy.

"I... I don't know how to get out."

Thrak's eyes seem to glow red as his rage partially returns.

"Human not funny. Lead the way."

"Thrak, buddy, I don't know. All they told me was we need to go deeper. We haven't even cleared this floor yet since that guy is still there."

Draga says this gesturing towards Providence, who is still doing nothing, but is in the way of continuing.

Thrak glances at him for a moment, before turning to Draga.

"What can you do?"

"I use lightning magic."

"He wears armor. Zap him."

"I don't think my skills are really sufficient to kill him."

"What can you do?"

"As it my skills?"

"Yes."

"I can turn into lightning."

"Do that. Give him a hug."

Not having thought of that, much less of how it would work, Draga can only speculate on the power of **[Electrical Silhouette]**. The skill didn't talk about dealing damage anywhere so would it even work? Putting thoughts aside, Draga begrudgingly does as he was told. Triggering his ability, and moving as he had before, Draga enters Providences suit and then into him. It hurts Draga's HP and MP to do so, but it seems to work as Providence's nerves literally melt, killing him before he can even react.

Surprised at the sheer proposition of being able to instakill things with minimal effort, Draga doesn't notice as his mana hits zero and forcibly makes him normal again. He then learns the disadvantage of doing this, if he messes up he can lose pretty badly.

Many people don't know about a technique called Telefraging, where you teleport inside of a person with the intention of blowing one or the other to bits, potentially both surviving if your healing factors are strong enough. Well, this was kinda like that. A good half of his body was inside Providence at the time of materialization, and it was not pretty. Draga was cut in half, losing almost 90% of HP right then, and with the drain from doing what he did a moment ago, he was literally on 2 HP. 2. He lost 100% of his HP, but over the course of it he regenerated 2 HP.

He falls down, totally stunned at his near-death experience.

1 HP damage.

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV18**

 **HP: 1856**

 **MP: 11625**

 **Str: 14(25.704)**

 **Vit: 13(37.128)**

 **Dex: 102(249.696)**

 **Int: 50(137.7)**

 **Wis: 50(137.7)**

 **Luk: 14(18.9)**

 **Points: 35**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 2.12% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL3 EXP 75.21% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 3**

 **Current total affinity: 13.13**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 42.14% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL2 EXP: 4.20% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 4% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 8.11% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 11% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 13% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 13.42% MP:98, 98 per minute**  
 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**  
 **Passively increases STR by 36%.**  
 **Passively increases DEX by 36%.**  
 **Passively increases VIT by 36%.**  
 **Passively increases INT by 36%.**  
 **Passively increases WIS by 36%.**  
 **Additional 36% increase to STR when activated.**  
 **Additional 36% increase to DEX when activated.**  
 **Additional 36% increase to VIT when activated.**  
 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 58.99% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 1%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 3 or .5%, whichever is larger.**

 **Lotus (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP:0**

 **The user has become attuned to the whole of mana, being able to draw upon the mana pervading existence to replenish oneself.**

 **Grants the user 100% increased mana regen per stack.**

 **Grants the user 150% increases mana regen per stack instead while in a magic rich environment.**

 **Allows the user to determine if an area is rich in magic.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 3.60% MP:980, 980 per second**  
 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**  
 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**  
 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**  
 **Passively sets base Dex to 102**  
 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**  
 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 14%**  
 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**  
 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL2 EXP: 15.15% MP:950 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL6 EXP: 46.09% MP:100**  
 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**  
 **Current % from trigger:6%**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Off-Hand: Simple Broadsword - Given by Xander this sword is just as its name says. Nothing special.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Runies Helm - A black medieval looking helmet. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Chest: Runies Guard - A black medieval looking breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Legs: Runies Greaves - A black medieval looking pair of leggings. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Feet: Runies Boots - A black medieval looking pair of boots. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Wrists: Runies Gauntlets - A black medieval looking pair of gauntlets. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Hands: Runies Gloves - A black medieval looking pair of hand guards. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2: None**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Back: Runies Guard cont. - A large cape and a continuation of the breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**


	8. People-7 (Section Ending)

Literally any injury, and he'd die. 1 HP was nothing to stay at, and he was grateful when it turned to 2, and then 3, and so on mere seconds later. His Vit wasn't very high, so he remembered his Aura, and turns it on. Because of the 36% boost to Vit and the 100% boost to regen, that should raise his regen by 172%, mathematically anyway. He didn't fully understand the way his stats worked together so it wasn't an exact science.

It's only then that Draga actually gets a good look at his aura. All across his body, white light is coming off, followed by a brief glimpse of red. It's then that he notices something else: His entire body was there despite his lower half being obliterated by the previous attack. Before he is allowed to think about it Thrak lifts him to his feet and points to the exit.

"Let's go."

Draga doesn't get to think about all the glorious loot he's missing as he's dragged along the tunnels to the next room. For the first time since entering the cave, one of the caverns are completely dark. Even Thrak, with his vastly better night vision, can only see a few feet around. What they can tell is that after leaving the tunnel, they are walking down a slope along a wall down to the actual floor of the cavern.

Draga gets an idea. He can create electricity, and electricity casts light. Perfect. Only using it for the second time, Draga casts **[Electrical Storm]** , a small spherical orb of electricity being created above their heads. Despite how dim it is, the vast contrast it has with the caves unbearable darkness allows Draga to see about 60 feet, and Thrak around double.

Unfortunately, they aren't the only things in the cavern that can see.

Still outside of vision range, something fires a flurry of arrows at the group, hitting Draga once and Thrak twice. The arrow pierces straight through Draga, dealing slightly less than 400 damage. The arrows in Thrak don't seem to hurt him at all, barely piercing his skin before stopping and not even causing him to bleed.

The attack does cause one fortunate thing, it cuts Draga's concentration on his spell, plunging them into darkness yet again.

"Human, do you think they saw us not die?"

"Well, the spell cut the moment I was hit. I'd imagine not."

"Stay still. I will handle them."

Thrak tears the arrow out of Draga's chest, the hole it occupied vanishing behind it, but dealing another 120 damage because it's a barbed arrow. He then jams the arrow into himself as far as the others went, followed by lying down on the sloped ground.

It takes a while, but eventually they hear slow moving footsteps, likely six or seven sets based on the volume, walking towards them. Based on the type of sound, they can also guess the enemies are armored in something metal.

Thrak points towards Draga, something he can sense despite being unable to see thanks to his hearing and short range electrical sense, and assumes he'll take that as a queue to produce his light again.

Instead, Draga takes that as his queue to attack. The entire area that the enemies occupy becomes surrounded in a cube of electricity, Thrak being just inside the border of the cube. The interior isn't filled with it, making him safe, but since those creatures clearly have impressive night vision, they must be vulnerable to light. Sure enough, the immensely bright light blinds them, while also damaging a pair of them that were lagging behind.

Now able to see them for what they are, Thrak examines the armored skeletons. All of them are armed with bows, and it's unclear what their motivation to attack was. They obviously don't need food. It takes a moment to register, but each undead's armor is wildly different, implying they all have different origins.

"Human, they are like zombie skeletons. Lightning won't hurt them."

Knowing that he'd have to do the fight himself, Thrak gets to work. He lunges forward, grabbing two still stunned skeletons and throwing them off the slope. When they each reach the ground, they live but only by 10%. Draga makes sure to forward this to Thrak.

The next attack, Thrak grabs one specifically, and puts as much downward force as possible into his throw. This one dies.

Unfortunately, they remaining 6 were no longer stunned. The 4 up above all pull out their bows, and take aim at the Orc, not having vision of Draga through the still present luminescent cube. The pair outside, being too close to the wall to aim at a high platform above it, start moving away from the wall for a vantage point.

Draga continues his actions, gradually moving to lie on the ground so as not to be a target. Thrak does the opposite, and starts a new method of attack. He leaps into the air, Draga changing the shape of his cube to accommodate the Orc throwing himself past the previous roof, and then slams down directly on two of them, crushing them completely. Not dying by HP, but instead being ground to dust beneath their own armor.

"These things are weak. I will handle this."

What follows is the fastest fight thus far. Thrak grabs the remaining two up here, the arrows they fire only lodging themselves like the rest, and slams them into one another. He does this repeatedly until they too stop moving. Draga cancels the cube, being low on mana because of it, and changes to two of the previous orbs, one above each persons head. Thrak hulks down towards the other two, but they have the sense to dodge the hulking wall of Orc meat.

Despite their smart move, dodging his first strike, they aren't fast enough to dodge his second attack. He slams into the first, knocking him into the air and grabbing both its arms before it falls. Thrak spins in circles, building up speed, before hurling the skeleton towards its compatriot.

They both drop to 0 HP and die, turning to dust inside their armor.

Draga, figuring the fight was over, pops his **[Aura]** and leaps down, landing in a safety roll so he doesn't take significant damage.

"What is that glow around you?"

"You don't have an aura?"

"No. Thrak needs no magic."

"This isn't magic. Aura is based on everything about you, and enhances your abilities accordingly. I could try and awaken yours if you'd like."

Thrak seems to mull over the offer for a moment.

"I will try this "aura" thing. If this goes badly I will kill you, guide or not."

With that warning in mind, Draga now regretfully walks over to Thrak and places a hand on his bare chest, his palm pressed directly against his sternum. He tries to move his aura through the point of contact, and to his surprise it moves effortlessly, flowing into Thrak. A moment later though, it retracts faster than it entered, pushed by an awakened tidal-wave of energy.

Thrak's entire body was glowing vibrantly, a natural green color nearly blinding Draga due to his proximity. A moment later it dims considerably, but the glow remains. Thrak stands, his muscles more pronounced and his size seemingly enhanced, making his 7' 1" form seem even more towering.

Thrak lifts a hand to his face to examine the effect, finding it tolerable he pats Draga's back with the same hand, pulling him into a hug.

"Hahaha. This feels great!"

Draga, being crushed completely, is unable to speak as his healthbar diminishes gradually. By the time Thrak lets go Draga is sitting on half health. He heaves in air, taking the moment to recover from the crushing force he received.

"Never... Do... That again..."

Draga barely manages to say that before **[Gamer's Body]** registers his breathing problems and fixes him. Draga stands up, having at least biologically recovered, and looks for the exit to the cavern.

It takes a while, the cavern being obnoxiously large for the small amount of enemies inside, but they eventually find the exit. Instead of rushing ahead, Draga sits on the ground to recover his HP and MP. Since his MP maxes first, he also spends the next few minutes grinding his **[Aura]** , raising it by another 3 levels. Content with the improvement, they push on.

Strangely, Thrak is still glowing even now. It's nice, making it so they can walk through the dark with no problems, but his aura should have retracted itself since he isn't actively keeping it up. Assuming it's just a quirk of his absurd quantity of aura, he continues. He looks at his pop-ups from the fight, knowing that the smallfry didn't drop anything so he wasn't worried about that, he reads about his gained level, and 8 consecutive level ups of **[Electrical Storm]**. He internally celebrates his good fortune, but doesn't make it obvious so Thrak doesn't end up thinking he's crazy.

He's busy reading that he doesn't even notice when he passes Thrak into the next room, and sequentially slips on the ice, sliding across the room.

Thrak, a groan escaping his lips, follows after him into the giant empty ice cavern. It's not bright per say, but you can see all around it, and see the 200 feet tall and 200 feet across rough cube chamber was barren. Only and entrance and an exit, and the slip just so happened to carry Draga to it. It's only when Draga gets up to start leaving that something odd happens.

One of the side walls becomes brighter, and a silhouette becomes visible through the translucent surface. A second later, and a massive humanoid, roughly 10x the proportions of a human, with scorched black skin and only a loin-cloth to cover his manhood crashes through the ice, sending it shattering everywhere.

A few rather large chunks of ice impact with Thrak, but simply shatter on impact. Draga meanwhile frantically dodges and ducks around the hail of ice going his way, attempting to take the minimum damage possible.

The storm ends and the giant stares down at us from above.

Draga looks up in tern and is actually surprised by the low level of it, but he also remembers something upon seeing it.

 **[LVL 37]**

 **Lesintar, The Goliath**

There was a quest objective involved with killing this thing himself. Of course, just by looking at its smoldering skin and high level, he guesses that isn't gonna happen. So, Draga makes a smart decision, running for his life. He triggers his aura and sprints down the tunnel, Thrak following behind since he doesn't want to face it alone. They keep going all the way into the next tunnel, the sounds of falling rocks and heavy impacts following them because of the Goliath.

The tunnel isn't a size that supports the Goliath, so it falls behind during the journey, but through the sounds of its actions they pair know it's still coming. Despite Draga's aura being active and his already high **Dex** , Thrak doesn't seem to have an issue with keeping up. He looks at him for a moment, and literally see's him running backwards so he can see the Goliath in the distance at one point.

The new room is actually quite lovely. It spans a huge area, way larger than any of the caverns before, potentially miles long. The ceiling is covered in some glowing material which allows various flora to grow on the mostly soil-based ground below. There were also some animals living down here, vaguely reminiscent of squirrels and birds. Clearly this place took a lot of effort to create, seeing as nature couldn't evolve life with just light.

Unfortunately they pair had to keep running because the Goliath was still following behind.

Thrak gives up on Draga running fast enough, and lifts him into a fireman carry, running far faster than he was. Leaving craters behind where his feet landed, Thrak makes it across the entire zone just as the Goliath emerges from the tunnel, a literal fire in his eyes. Unlike his previous showcase, his body wasn't just smoldering, it was entirely coated in red and orange flames. How the thing could see was a mystery at this point. Luckily, with their massive lead, the Goliath didn't know of their location.

However, it seemed that it didn't care about them as it started wreaking havoc on the area. It swept its legs from side to side, kicking trees far away while also lighting them on fire. This was just the beginning of a completely unnatural wildfire, something this place had never experienced.

Knowing that they couldn't handle it, since it appeared to get a powerup beyond the point they doubted their ability, they just leave, continuing down the next tunnel.

They come across a fork in the road, simply taking a straight without concern. They do this one more time before they hit a wall.

Thrak, sick of this places shit, sprints towards the wall and breaks through it, leading them further into the maze. They continue to head straight forward for a few minutes, breaking through a total of 6 walls, before they reach an exit.

During the trip to the next room Draga looks at the Orc again, and something is different. He hadn't brought attention to it, but after meeting the Goliath his aura was white, and while they were barging through walls in the maze his aura was brown. There wasn't anything he could think of to explain it, but he didn't really understand the properties of aura anyway. Could just be something with his emotions or something, which would explain why his was white.

When they get to the room, Draga see's something he never thought he'd see. Even when faced with the Goliath, Thrak was unfazed. Now, standing before him in all his might, was a genuinely terrified Thrak. At least, for a moment before he walked into the room.

It's only at this time that Draga actually looks in the room, and what he see's is incredibly underwhelming.

The room is empty except for a giant spider web with nothing on it. Since Thrak is clearly unhappy with the situation, Draga takes charge.

"Spiders that use webs can tell when it moves. If the web is completely destroyed before it can vibrate, it can't get the signal. One sec."

Draga triggers **[Electrical Storm]** so the space it occupied matches the web. He miscalculates a bit, not having taken the literal two seconds for **[Mathematicians Answer]** to trigger, and this ends up dropping him to only 1360 mana, but it works anyway, dissolving the entire web before it could move.

Unfortunately for Draga, he didn't understand exactly how this spider worked.

The floor of the room broke into pieces as it lunged out of the ground. Luckily for the pair, since they weren't actually at the web they were spared from the first of its attacks, but the floor collapsing did set them off balance for a moment. Above its head hangs a actually quite relieving sight. For the first time since entering the

Thrak, being the Orc that he is, didn't hesitate despite his fear and hatred of the species and rushes forward, ducking down to slide beneath it.

The spider, being unprepared for the move, is unable to stop his movement. Thrak goes all the way past it in the slide, shredding his knees in the process. Thrak ignores the bleeding and the pain in favor of killing this god damn spider. Once he turns into a stand position, his momentum changing direction to lift him up, Thrak lunges forward and grabs hold walls of the spiders spinneret. Thrak, unable to be dislodged as the spider flails thanks to its own adhesive, is able to tear the hole open, making it wider and cutting into the spiders body.

Draga, realizing there was something he could do, starts firing off **[Pale Lightning]** at the spiders eyes, taking out the 5 of them before it gives up on dropping Thrak and lunges towards Draga.

Draga, just running out of mana to cast **[Electrical Silhouette]** when the spider lunges at him, has to dodge normally, so he pops his aura and leaps above the teeth of the creature. When he does so, he actually lands on its head. _Wait... Spiders can't reach their heads with their legs. Why didn't I think of this earlier?_ Because he wasn't playing attention, the spider is able to fling him off, Draga turning in midair to land on his feet.

"Thrak?"

Draga hadn't seen him since his attack started, but now he got a perfect picture of what he was doing. From behind the spider, in a position it couldn't remove him from, Thrak was tearing out the inside of its Abdomen. This wasn't gonna kill it on its own, assuming normal biology, but just now glancing at its HP, the spider is about to die right then.

And then it does.

With a howl the likes of which hadn't been seen since Draga's first floor the thing died.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

Draga ignores the notification for a moment before remembering how many points he had now. He had exactly 49. _DAMN! I was gonna level my Int or Wis by 50 again.. Guess I gotta wait... Or I could do a different stat._

Draga glances at his stats and decides on upgrading **Vit** first. Dropping the needed 37 points, leaving him with 12, his stat reaches 50. As expected he gets two skills from this. What he doesn't expect is the third skill that appears.

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 49.5% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 5 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

Draga, noting the label **DR** being highlighted, presses it despite having an idea what it does. He isn't surprised by what pops up.

 **DR**

 **A resistance to damage. Physical damage is reduced by normal DR at a rate of 100%. Other damages are reduced based on how the DR is attained.**

 **Current DR: 5 + 4%**

Regardless, it was useful. He'd have to grind it sometime his life wasn't in danger. He spends 11 points right then, 5 in **Str** and 6 in **Luk** so Corruption boosts his **Str**.

Thrak and gestures forward before walking off, leaving the corpse behind. Draga doesn't follow for a moment, looking for any loot. He does find a book and a ring. For the first time in forever, **[Observe]** is actually helpful with the loot.

 **Sutra: A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Charlotte's Web. Just a book to read you power junkie.**

Ignoring the insult by the game, Draga puts on the ring before following after Thrak. They keep walking down the tunnel for a while, until they reach a strange barrier. The tunnel abruptly stops at what looks like a portal. It isn't until the quest finishes that he realizes what it is: The portal the Hokori are coming in. He glances at the notification.

 **[Quest Complete]**

 **All Is Dust**

 **Objectives:**

 **Locate Hokori summoning location: +**

 **Kill the Hokori: -**

 **Bonus Objectives:**

 **Kill the Goliath: -**

 **?: -**

 **Rewards:**

 **Story Segment Completion**

 **New location**

Draga is confused by what it said. He failed the mission essentially, but he was still going somewhere else? Where would he be going?

He doesn't get to answer the question before the direction of gravity seems to change.

He triggers **[Electrical Silhouette]** in an attempt to get away, but even in this state he's pulled towards the portal.

He, being unable to speak while in this state and moving far too fast for Thrak to have heard anything anyway, is sucked into the gateway with no resistance.

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV20**

 **HP: 4894**

 **MP: 25289**

 **Str: 19(57.855)**

 **Vit: 50(97.875)**

 **Dex: 104(271.44)**

 **Int: 50(146.1825)**

 **Wis: 50(146.1825)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL5 EXP 12.57% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 5**

 **Current total affinity: 15.15**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 42.14% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL2 EXP: 4.20% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 4% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 8.11% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 11% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 13% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 27.42% MP:95, 95 per minute**  
 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**  
 **Passively increases STR by 45%.**  
 **Passively increases DEX by 45%.**  
 **Passively increases VIT by 45%.**  
 **Passively increases INT by 45%.**  
 **Passively increases WIS by 45%.**  
 **Additional 45% increase to STR when activated.**  
 **Additional 45% increase to DEX when activated.**  
 **Additional 45% increase to VIT when activated.**  
 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL2 EXP: 13.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 2%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 6 or 1%, whichever is larger.**

 **Lotus (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP:0**

 **The user has become attuned to the whole of mana, being able to draw upon the mana pervading existence to replenish oneself.**

 **Grants the user 100% increased mana regen per stack.**

 **Grants the user 150% increases mana regen per stack instead while in a magic rich environment.**

 **Allows the user to determine if an area is rich in magic.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 18.06% MP:960, 960 per second**  
 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**  
 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**  
 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**  
 **Passively sets base Dex to 104**  
 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**  
 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 18%**  
 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**  
 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL4 EXP: 18.51% MP:850 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL6 EXP: 46.09% MP:100**  
 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**  
 **Current % from trigger:6%**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 18.98% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 49.5% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 5 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Off-Hand: Simple Broadsword - Given by Xander this sword is just as its name says. Nothing special.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Runies Helm - A black medieval looking helmet. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Chest: Runies Guard - A black medieval looking breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Legs: Runies Greaves - A black medieval looking pair of leggings. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Feet: Runies Boots - A black medieval looking pair of boots. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Wrists: Runies Gauntlets - A black medieval looking pair of gauntlets. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Hands: Runies Gloves - A black medieval looking pair of hand guards. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2:** **Sutra - A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Back: Runies Guard cont. - A large cape and a continuation of the breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**


	9. Environment-1

**So, as this is the start of a new arc on a world with a lot more... Effort put into it I have to do a chapter of setup. This means Draga won't be in it until next chapter. Sorry in advance if for some reason this bothers you.**

Trevor stepped out of his house, the red sandstone providing almost perfect protection from the occasional dust storms. The entire city he was in was made of the stuff, camouflaging it thanks to the red dust that coats virtually all the land on earth now. Taking a casual stroll, he makes his way towards the farmland.

As he walked, he examined the sky for any foretelling of weather, and was happy to find rain in the next day or two. _Good. The river's not doing too well._ He was of course referring to the underground rivers that fed the town and had been for many months now. He'd discovered and directed them himself using his elementalist ability: The ability to control Air, Water, Earth, and Fire.

He'd learned long ago that it wasn't really limited. Because almost everything had earth or air in it, he could pretty much control anything that wasn't alive. That was the biggest problem with his power. Despite there being water and air as necessities for life, he couldn't control anything alive for some reason.

Trevor, dismissing his rambling train of thought, arrives at the other half of town, a vast farmland with a canal running through it. He wasn't there to work at the moment, himself having more pressing concerns at the moment, but he instead came to see the only other resident of the city: Listeria Cordinai.

Liz, noticing his approach, turns to him with a smile before immediately teasing him on his late wake-up.

"Morning sleeping beauty."

Trevor raises an eyebrow but doesn't retaliate, having long ago proven that he couldn't win an insult war with the woman. Instead, he walks over and places his hand on her shoulder.

"Morning beautiful."

Liz blushes, but to her credit she doesn't get flustered, something that usually happened to the girl.

"Don't you have a job to do?"

"Lets see here... I do, but I think it's more fun to stay here with you. Call it a-"

He stops abruptly, himself feeling footsteps on the earth outside the pit Akilahara is set within. Listeria catches his actions and nods, searching with her own ability for the presence of the person.

 **Little bit of background here. This world was set in a universe where every single human was given superpowers. When a hitherto unknown species called the Hokori, but since they don't speak they never learned their true name, invaded they won by taking control of their own people. They stopped doing this after a while, having gauged humanities powers and converted all of the biomass into their own race of superbeings. They spend a series of months ruining the ecosystems around the globe, making the majority of the planet inhospitable. Akilahara was built by Trevor using his ability in order to make a safe haven for himself and any stragglers that came along. So far, due to their location at one of the first places the Hokori ever invaded, there is an unfortunate lack of humans, but also a low quantity of Hokori since they are attacking other places worldwide.**

Listeria, psychically determining the location of the person, tells Trevor about what she sees. Their powers compliment each other since Trevor has a long range sense that can determine vibrations in the ground, such as how he discovered the underground rivers, and Listeria can scan things she knows the location of.

"It's a human, taller than either of us and with a ripped but lean physique."

"Any idea what his powers are?"

"Only that he has a sword. It doesn't even seem high quality so if he's survived this long he's gotta be good with it."

Trevor considers what to do for a moment before deciding to test him. He stands still for a moment, having to concentrate for long range manipulation.

Ken Chikyūta was walking the wasteland no particular direction in mind. He'd been just wandering for months now, killing any small Hokori that cross his path. He didn't see anything for miles, the earth having become barren what seemed like years ago, so he was quite surprised when the very earth he stood on moved. A cube formed from the sandstone, that made up the majority of the earth, with slits in the corners to provide air. He doesn't move, still unaware of what's happening.

Taking that as his queue to start, Trevor vibrates the air within the mostly closed space in such a way to simulate a voice, although since he never perfected this technique it sounds almost robotic.

"Who are you, and what are your intentions?"

Ken, assuming he could hear him since he spoke (Something Trevor can do through the vibrations the sound puts on the earth), replies.

"My name is Ken Chikyūta, and I don't have any intentions."

Trevor nods before realizing that Ken can't see it.

"Alright. Welcome to Akilahara."

The cube moves along the ground, pulling Ken with it, until it reaches the edge of the cliffside surrounding Akilahara. It opens, the sides and roof merging with the ground seamlessly and Trevor fills in the space it occupied elsewhere.

Ken is taken aback by the sight.

Down the center of his vision is a divide between rich farmland and deserted townscape filled with hundreds of sandstone buildings.

Because of his absorption in the appearance of the place he isn't prepared when the stone he's standing on collapses into a 60 foot drop.

He lands in a face-plant, his body cratering itself a few inches into the ground. Despite the fall, he's in fairly good condition as he stands up and dusts himself off. While finishing the action on his plain white T-shirt, Ken looks around.

"Yo."

Ken rapidly turns to the sound of the voice, and is genuinely surprised yet again when there's nobody there. _Oh yeah... Voice projection, how could I forget._

Trevor comes up out of the ground and moves just behind Ken without making a sound.

"Boo."

Ken turns, a lot slower since he expects it to be the same thing over again, and comes face to face with Trevor. They each examine the other.

Trevor is wearing a simple shirt that was originally white, but has been coated with so much of the red dust that its permanently colored that way. Besides that he's wearing brownish red cargo shorts and a straw-sun cap. What really stands out about him isn't his clothing, or even his incredibly well kept brown hair. No, it's the strange white lines that stretch all across his skin. They wrap around his body in delicate and artistic patterns, and they don't really make sense. After all this time, they should be a darker shade just from the sun, but no. Perfect white.

Ken meanwhile has nothing particularly noticeable about him. His hair is a pale blond, implying he's a lot older than his physique would like you to believe. He's wearing an obviously well cared for white shirt, and a pair of solid black jean-like pants. Slotted into one of the belt-slots is a rough cast iron sword, clearly used for a long time despite its low quality. His body is as described, far larger than his own without being bulky.

Trevor takes the moment to look at himself. He was 5' 10" with an incredibly lean frame considering how much he eats. The only reason he was as strong as he was is that his power allows manipulation of the world around him. If he couldn't move a rock, it starts floating on its own.

This was actually a core part of his personality. He'd try to do things naturally, but if he couldn't or it would put something at considerable risk he'd use his powers to their fullest extent.

That said, it was fun to mess with people.

"So, my name's Trevor, and this is Akilahara. Is anyone else with you?"

"Nah. Nice place you got. Anyone with you?"

"Only other person is Listeria, and before you ask she's mine."

Speak of the devil and he will appear. Speak of the devils daughter and she will also appear.

"Your's? I remember it being the other way around."

Trying to play it off casually Trevor starts laughing about it, but it only turns out more awkward. Ken doesn't seem to mind though, as he holds out a hand to each of them.

"Nice to meet you both. First company I've had since the attack."

In unison the pair shake the offered hands and say "Nice to meet you too."

What follows is a brief tour by the pair to show him their house, the specifics of the farmland, and the location of the river for the sake of bathing and the like. Hanging over the river is also a solid stone porta-potty type thing.

Shortly after the tour finishes, the sun starts setting. The group agrees to call it a night, and Ken breaks away to head to his house. Unfortunately for him, he gets lost. The houses were all pretty much identical. The only differences were the numbers painted onto them near the "Door". It takes him a while, and he eventually finds his way, but by then night had fallen.

True to Trevor's prediction, the next day it was raining, making Trevor stay inside for the time being. He had control over the four basic elements, and could feel the movement of the earth within a certain range, but he wasn't resistant to disease.

Listeria could create a psychic barrier between herself and the rain to both keep her warm and keep her dry, and Ken could channel energy around his body to evaporate any rain before it touches him.

As such, the two went outside and met up at the border between the two areas.

"Where's Trevor?"

"Oh. He can't resist the rain. He has a hard time manipulating many different bits of water."

"That blows. What if something happens?"

"Like what?"

"Hokori attack..."

Ken gives her a deadpan look as he says this. _You know, the only reason you had to build this place to begin with?_

"As big a risk as the Hokori are, he doesn't even need to leave the house to fight. The only ones dangerous to us can't fly, and he can battle anything that stands on the earth from wherever in this place he wants."

Ken concedes the argument.

"I don't really have anything to do. Can I help you with anything?"

Listeria looks at the farmland before remembering something.

"Can you cook?"

"While I was taught, I was taught Asian foods. We live in the middle of North America. We aren't exactly gonna get everything I'd need."

"Let me rephrase that. Can you bake bread, and prepare salads?"

He raises an eyebrow at that.

"You don't eat meat here?"

"What's there to eat? The Hokori wiped out all the animals."

"Well, you probably never tried it, but they actually taste great."

And now's Liz's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"The Hokori? The giant solid white armored creatures that destroyed humanity? They are your food source?"

Ken nods.

"I didn't have a bag to carry any with me, but somewhere in the wasteland is a entire roast Pansa."

 **God. Setting up the world only in Narrative is hard. So, during the second invasion with the new race of superbeings the Hokori created the entire human military was fighting them. They managed to last quite a while, taking down huge numbers of the things. In this way they were able to classify most of them and get a profile for them. They shared this to the public since it was literally life or death which ones you encountered. Unfortunately, during the war, many bases were suddenly defeated with no survivors and sequentially destroyed. Since nobody lived and all evidence was removed, there was no explanation for what was happening, and after a huge number of these events happening humanity lost, leading up to today. This is six months after the invasion started, and a year after the Hokori were introduced to humanity. If someone submits a review requesting the details of the past and each of the Hokori I'd be down for making it its own chapter. Anyway, back to the story.**

Ken's stomach grumbles at the thought of that delicious meat. Most of the Hokori's had touch flesh, unsuitable for cooking, but Pansa's have less dense muscles and defenses for the sake of speed, making them a perfect roast dish. Ken puts his hand on his belly, laughing jovially.

"Looks like I'm gonna learn how to bake bread."

Lightly giggling to herself about it, Liz leads Ken to the "Kitchen" which is really just a house with a low quality wood-powered stove and storage area. Once inside Listeria goes through the motions and demonstrates how to bake a loaf of bread. She is unfortunately interrupted during the actual baking directions part of it.

"Wait... Where did you get the wood? I haven't seen trees on this continent since the attack.

"I guess you should know, but since I don't actually know where it is you're gonna have to ask Trevor. Ask him about the "Sherwood Forest"."

"Right... I'll do that later. So what's this about cook times?"

"Ah, yes. This stove cooks at around 400 degrees. Bread takes about 35 minutes to cook at this temperature, but you have about five minutes of leeway for preference."

The rain outside picks up and thunder can be heard.

"Ignore it. The pit should stop any lightning from hitting us."

They continue to prepare bread for baking until the first loaf is finished. By this time they've prepared three, and stick all of em in at the same time. The stove is big enough for four, but it was easier to do them at the same time.

Their thoughts are interrupted when what sounds like lightning goes off a mere 20 meters from their location. The ground shakes slightly from the force, and although the pair don't know it, a new crater has formed in Akilahara.

Far from the impact, Trevor groans. _How did anything get this close?_

Liz seems to pause for a second, scanning the enemy outside. Strangely, it doesn't seem to be moving. _Did the fall cripple it?_ Putting the thought aside, Listeria examines its shape. The creature is around 11 feet tall with heavy armor plates coating most of its body, sort of like samurai armor if not for the fact it was grown out of him. It has four arms, all of them forward facing but two of them coming out of its back. It stands up, showing that it only has two legs and that they aren't injured by the fall. As it looks around with its six eyes, set up in a 3 tall 2 wide rectangle, Ken is already up and out the door.

What he see's fills him with resolve.

 _We meet again, No-Te._

He raises his sword to his hands, an angry frown contrasting with the Hokori's permanently smiling "mouth", which was really just a curved indent in its face. Ken seems to glow a vibrant blue, the occasional red hue mixing in before being expelled. This glow moves along his sword, making it appear like a powerful weapon despite its shitty quality.

"Come and get me."

The Hokori obliges, entering a sprinters ready stance before breaking away in a burst of speed normally invisible to the human eye.

Fortunately for Ken, his entire body wasn't exactly normal anymore.

Ken ducks beneath the set of arms intended to clothesline him, and take a swing for its legs. The blade glances off, but a visible chip is created in the armor. The chip doesn't last long unfortunately as it repairs itself from the minuscule injury. As it turns to him, its face seems to mock him, calling him a weakling for his failures.

Kens resolve grows stronger, but unlike before the red hues are mixing with the blue, gradually creating a purple color.

"Ichiryu: Iaido: Breath."

He places his sword against his leg, as if it was sheathed, before becoming a blur and moving past the No-Te. He seems to materialize behind it, having finished the slash.

Like in anime a moment passes before anything happens, but when it does, actual fear crosses Ken's face.

His sword blade shatters.

 _Son of a-_

His thoughts are interrupted by the towering being turning around and round-house kicking him from behind. Luckily, Liz is still here so she creates a barrier between the two, vastly lessening the blow so Ken merely stumbles forward.

She glances towards Trevor, who only now arrives at the scene.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

Trevor raises a hand, sending a pillar of earth into the air with the No-Te carried atop it. It attempts to leap off, but it hits its face on an invisible barrier, similar to that which stopped its strike but stronger due to longer concentration time. It can't exactly think in our sense, but it can strategize as well as recognize helplessness. Luckily for it, it isn't helpless.

The No-Te lifts its arms and starts pounding on the ground, gradually breaking its way through the pillar. Its speed in doing so completely negates its upward movement, and eventually Trevor will have to stop. It doesn't.

That plan is unfortunately ruined with Ken literally floats up next to it, his face masked in shadow except for a single glowing red eye. Ken throws his broken sword into the air, it seeming to vanish for a moment, before a ton of them appear in the area around him. After a moment, he makes it clear just how many he's created.

"Thousand Sword Style: Gigante Slayer!"

The swords all turn to point at the No-Te. While he's saying this, and afterwards they dive towards him all at once, their many angles making it impossible to dodge even after Listeria removes the barrier. The swords mostly chip it, seeing as he's armored all over, but the accumulative damage shatters its armor and allows around a hundred to impale it properly with their broken blade.

Filled with iron and mostly defenseless, Ken takes his time tearing a sword out of him. He raises it into the air, and as he's about to strike downward, thunder strikes.

Both of them, high up near the cliff and in contact with metal, are struck by a sudden lightning bolt in the storm.

Ken falls from the sky, his freefall cut short as Listeria creates a moving psychic platform to lower him gently.

The No-Te meanwhile is just dead. Having taking the brunt of the energy due to its height and shear quantity of metal jabbed inside it, its only vital organ, its brain, was destroyed completely. Trevor lowers its corpse to the ground, the pillar moving back into the earth.

Examining the pair, it was obvious just how damaging the lightning was. The No-Te had parts of his body melting from the heat, and even Ken was unconscious with heavy burns on his skin. Unfortunately for the trio, none of them had any healing techniques. None.

"I was gonna say we should try Ken's idea to make meat of the Hokori, but I think we can do without it this time."

Trevor nods in agreement, the molten muscle not looking appetizing in the slightest.

Instead of cooking it, Trevor does what he normally does with their corpses: turns it into fertilizer. The land after the Hokori attacked was largely barren, some plant-like creatures having absorbed the nutrients from the soil. It was only fair that they replenish the land in turn.

The body of the No-Te sinks beneath the surface, until its covered completely by several feet. Once out of sight, the ground starts churning below the surface, creating sand and gravel. As it works the particles get smaller and smaller, making them better for the task at hand, eroding the No-Te to a collection of minerals. The particles form a swarm around its body, grinding into it as they move around faster and faster.

While all of this is going on, Trevor and Listeria take Ken to his house, laying him down on the straw mattress. As uncomfortable as straw sounds, since Ken was sleeping on stone or dirt until now it's actually a luxury. As he curls up in an attempt to cope with his pain, even while unconscious, he ends up rolling over and revealing his back since his shirt was mostly destroyed by the lightning.

What shows on their back is a horrible set of scars only made worse by the smoldering heat. They couldn't even determine what was used to create the scars since their shape and size varies so much.

Trevor, setting it in a mental folder to ask about later, walks out, soon followed by Listeria. They travel to their house before going to bed themselves.

Unknown even to Trevor, since he was distracted at the time, another being entered during the attack.

 **This world has been one of my favorites. I created it ages ago, and had fun introducing a wide variety of people to it through roleplay. As such I've developed a ton of lore and backstory for the place, which if you were reading my other author's comments I'd be willing to display to you should someone review a request for it. Unless that happens, the next chapter will feature Draga's first encounters with the world, and likely a training montage the chapter after that. This is currently 1 year into the story of the world, and I have it planned out to 2 years. Hope you enjoy.**


	10. Environment-2

Draga groans awake. He wasn't even really conscious before waves of pain and discomfort wash over him. It wasn't pain like injury, more of that long standing ache some people get for the backs with old age, but all over. He opens his eyes when **[Gamer's Body]** kicks in and removes whatever it was. For some reason, it reacted instantly to actual injuries like cut off limbs, but would let pain or other ailments last for a bit.

When he stood up he realized the entire area around him was soaking wet, but he was perfectly dry and clean even. _Of course. It even keeps me clean but CAN'T DEAL WITH THE PAIN!_

Letting out a sigh, Draga examines his surroundings. The entire area he was at seemed to be a series of houses made out of the same red stone material as the ground. Off in the distance and above him was a cliffside, forming a circle around the general area. Each of the entrances to the homes that he can see has a number painted next to it, and the only one with anything besides a mattress in it that he can see has a rudimentary stove, a pile of wood, and a bunch of cast iron cooking utensils.

When he goes inside and checks, the interior compartment of the stove has bread burnt to the point of being called to **[Observe]** "Homemade Charcoal", but according to it the bread would still grant 5 HP in exchange for 5 MP. In other words it's completely useless while still technically being useful. While he's messing around inside he doesn't notice the gradual shrinking of the door until its gone, leaving the room in darkness if not for an air-hole at the top.

"Who are you and how did you get in this town without our notice?"

Draga, not understanding what is said, triggers **[Electrical Silhouette]** and moves outside, returning to a physical medium when he is standing directly in front of Trevor. Draga, reading his nameplate, finds himself put at odds on what to do. Trevor was lower than him in levels, but his title scared him a bit.

 **[LVL16]**

 **Trevor Delihara, The Lord of Land**

 _"Lord of Land" huh? That's a pretty badass title, but he's lower level than me. Does that mean I would win?_ Regardless of how that would work, he bows his head in respect to the guy.

Trevor flinches, personally believing the guy just teleported. It's not exactly impossible, people having abilities like that on TV before, but they were creating portals or the like. Draga just appeared. Boy if he knew he only traveled at the speed of light.

"Hello sir, I am Draga Konungar. Pleased to meet you. To answer your question, I have no idea how I got here."

Sure, he was lying, but saying I got sucked into a random portal and just happened to land right here in the middle of your town probably wouldn't go well.

After a moment spend processing Draga's actions and his answer Trevor turns around and starts walking away. Draga follows behind, keeping pace with the assumption that he was being led somewhere.

As it turns out, he was being led, just not to somewhere: to someone.

After turning around a corner Draga comes face to face with both Trevor and Listeria. Like he always does when encountering something new that has a nameplate, Draga reads it.

 **[LVL 22]**

 **Listeria Cordinai, The Lord of Mind**

 _These guys are all gonna be lords of something aren't they?_ Putting that aside, Draga waits expectantly for them to say something. After a moment Trevor clears his throat and asks him a third question.

"Why are you here."

Oh great. They were speaking English. Sora and Shiro mentioned such a language, but he couldn't speak it on his own. He'd have to be taught later. All they bothered to teach him was what he says next.

"Does person speak Japanese?"

To his surprise he actually gets a pop-up when he says this.

 **Language (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:300, 300 per minute**

 **The user has started on the incredibly arduous journey of learning a new language, and as such has the ability to learn such.**

 **Occasionally grants knowledge of words when hearing them.**

 **Current chance: .1%**

 **Actively allows memorization of words and multiplies the above odds by 10.**

He immediately turns it on, and starts listening to the two chatter for a moment, actually leveling the skill and learning the word "He". On its own it won't do much, but over time it will help. He also notes that while the cost remains the same, the change goes from .1% to .2% when it levels, making his current percentage 2.

The pair gesture for him to follow before moving into a nearby building. Inside is Ken, currently recovering from the lightning strike. Already his swelling has vanished and a more natural shade has appeared on his skin not adjacent to a scar.

When Draga enters Ken glances at him, absorbing his appearance before turning to Trevor and Liz for a quick conversation. Draga learns 2 more words, "The" and "Lightning".

Meanwhile, Draga reads his nameplate as well, and low and behold another lord.

 **[LVL 28]**

 **Ken, The Lord of Body**

Well, he was actually really high level. _Wonder why he's the one hurt. What, was he hit by lightning or something?_ That was more of a guess than a rhetorical question, but the reasoning stood. Why would the most powerful be the most injured?

Ken speaks to Draga, his accent clearly American but fluency top notch.

"They want to know who you are and what you are doing here."

"I am Draga Konungur and I don't know what I am doing here."

Ken repeats what Draga says, **[Language]** gaining another level and letting him learn the word "Know". Trevor asks another question for Ken to translate.

"How did you teleport before?"

"I don't actually teleport. I can become lightning and travel as it does, and since electricity functions near the speed of light I appear to teleport."

As Ken translates that Draga picks up "Travel" and "I".

Trevor says three words to Ken who translates for the last time.

"Welcome to Akilahara."

The same brief tour that Ken got is given to Draga, except Draga isn't talking to them since they couldn't understand each other. Trevor and Liz still talk, however, which ends up teaching Draga "Girlfriend", "Don't", "As", and "What".

After the tour the pair leave Draga behind and return to the food building. Draga, not needing food, decides to visit Ken instead.

Once inside, Draga watches over Ken's sleeping form for a moment.

Beside Ken is the damaged sword, something Draga recognizes. _Not like I'm gonna use it I guess._ He reaches into his inventory and pulls out the simple broadsword, setting it beside Ken's still unmoving form.

As he's leaving the building a pop-up appears.

 **[Alert Quest]**

 **Swords Breath**

 **Get Ken to teach you the path of the sword.**

 **Quest rewards: Chi manipulation, increased reputation with Akilahara, increased reputation with Ken**

 **Quest failure: Permanent inability to master Chi.**

Draga eyes the quest for a second. _Reputation. It's a fairly common thing in games, but what how would my game use it?_

Before he's able to think further than that, a voice calls out to him.

"You okay man? Staring off into space."

At least, it's interpreted that way. It sounds more like "You k men? Stirring off into spass." Of course, how could you blame a guy who is still half asleep?

"Uh, yeah. I was wondering, would you be willing to teach me the path of the sword? I gave you that broad sword as an offering."

Sure it was a lie, but if anything his intentions were more noble than that. Breaks must be given.

"You want me to teach you the path of the sword... Something I myself haven't mastered... Right."

"Well, you don't have to teach me to the master level. Just teach me how to get to your level and I'd be fine."

"Well, since you gave me your sword I have to ask if you have another."

Draga doesn't answer with words, instead reaching into a newly opened inventory and pulling out his Kucing.

Ken reacts as most people would to objects materializing: Backing away in shock, although it would be hard to tell that he was shocked just by looking at him. Ken takes a moment to compose himself before speaking.

"Okay. I will get you started. Meet me at the cliffside in an hour."

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Swords Breath**

 **Get Ken to teach you the path of the sword: +**

 **Quest rewards:**

 **Chi manipulation**

 **50 reputation with Akilahara**

 **50 reputation with Ken**

Upon completion another bar appears on Draga's hud: Chi. Glancing at it, the bar has 50 as the max, and it currently filled. Draga, remembering how the conversation started, walks outside before "Spacing out" again.

Once outside, he glances at the reputation bonus. Like many times before, the color of the text is different meaning he can pull up a glossary of some kind by clicking on it.

 **Reputation**

 **A measurement of someone or some groups respect or infatuation with you. The results vary from person to person. Reputation scales from -1000 to 1000. Group reputation grants 1/2 reputation value to everyone in the group, but cannot increase or decrease outside the normal scale.**

 **Current reputation:**

 **Tet: 400**

 **Shiro: N/A**

 **Sora: 1000**

 **Xander: N/A**

 **Caelem: -20**

 **Thrak: -100**

 **Ken: 50**

 **Trevor: 0**

 **Listeria: 10**

 **Akilahara: 50**

 _Why are Xander and Shiro not applicable? Xander is a Gamer so I guess it make sense the different game systems would be incompatible but... Wait... Does that mean Shiro is a Gamer? It would explain her monstrous abilities. Well... I can confirm that if I ever make it back to Disboard._

Shoving the unfortunate likelihood that Draga had been basically lied to for two years aside, he turns to lightning and travels up to the cliffside. Once there, Draga pulls out his sword and starts leveling up , waiting for Ken to show up for the start to his training.

Two hours later:

Draga smashes through a boulder yet again, a good 1000 HP being wiped off his bar as he does so. This had been the routine for an hour now: Ken dashes in to take a swing, Draga attempts to block it, and he fails most of the time getting blown into a boulder. Even when he succeeded in blocking or parrying the blow, Ken would simply make another strike while his sword was out of position.

Ken seems to appear in front of Draga's battered form. **[Gamer's Body]** prevented any bruising from the horrific beatings he was receiving, and filled in the gaps for the cuts and the like, but the pain. Oh the pain was always there.

For the first time since they'd started, Ken holds out his hand to help Draga up, something he gratefully accepts. Unfortunately the moment he's up Ken impales him on his sword, and then kicks him off of it through yet another boulder. _Where are they even coming from? Is Trevor screwing with me?_

Draga groans from his basically defeated position. The conditions for the training exercise were that Draga couldn't use magic. While this left him with a crap ton of mana for HP supplement, it also left him basically defenseless. He really needed to get out of relying on **[Electrical Silhouette]** because someone someday was gonna have a counter to it and stomp him. Even as it stood, it was fairly easy to screw up and kill himself by telefragging things far more durable then himself.

"Can we take a break?"

Ken considers it for a moment. Despite his incredible physical prowess despite his lanky frame, he was tiring. It was obvious in the light layer of sweat on his face, along with the sadistic smile having been dropped.

"Well, I need to eat even if you don't. See you in half an hour."

Draga takes the time to read the many, many, absurdly many pop-ups that appeared during the fight.

 **For skills he already had, just putting the info on how many levels he got and putting the details below.**

 **Through strenuous exercise your Str has increased by 1.**

 **Through strenuous exercise your Str has increased by 1.**

 **Through being lucky as balls with your occasional blocking your Luk has increased by 1.**

 **[Aura] has leveled up. (1 notification)**

 **Physical Endurance (The damage resistance one) has leveled up. (8 notifications)**

 **Physical Endurance (The fatigue one) has leveled up. (4 notifications)**

 **Through repeated action, the skill [Sword Mastery] has been created.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL6 EXP: 72.51% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 12%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 18%.**

Well that was nice. It seems you couldn't get experience just by getting the crap beaten out of you, but skills wise it was a good use of an hour. Keeping his **[Aura]** active, Draga puts his armor on, puts his sword in its sheath, and starts running laps at full speed around the towns border. This levels the fatigue version of **[Physical Endurance]** an additional 2 times before Ken comes back.

"Draga, I need to know something. What exactly is your power? I impaled you and you acted like it was a minor injury."

"I am a video game character."

"A what now?"

"A video game character. Have you never played a video game before?"

"No."

"Oh."

 _Well, answering that question just got a whole lot harder._

"Well, in as simple terms as I can, my body functions at perfect efficiency. Unless I die I will heal, and my death isn't based on bodily destruction, but rather accumulated damage. It gets more complicated than that, but that would be the most basic rundown."

"Alright. Is there anyone else with your power?"

"Uh, yeah. I am the fifth person with the power."

"Where are the others?"

"I only know one other, and his name is Alexander Grimguard. He, uh, died?"

"Huh... Well, I am gonna give you the day off. Practice the kata I provided you and that'll be that. No more beatings, as much as I enjoy them."

Elsewhere:

An being opens its "eyes".

"Free. Finally free."

 **I just realized I did not update the stats. They will be fixed next chapter but I simply cannot be asked to do that now. The abilities are properly updated however, so go ham.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV20**

 **HP: 4894**

 **MP: 25289**

 **Str: 19(57.855)**

 **Vit: 50(97.875)**

 **Dex: 104(271.44)**

 **Int: 50(146.1825)**

 **Wis: 50(146.1825)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL6 EXP 75.21% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 6**

 **Current total affinity: 16.16**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 42.14% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 8.11% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 11% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 13% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL7 EXP: 11.92% MP:94, 94 per minute**  
 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**  
 **Passively increases STR by 48%.**  
 **Passively increases DEX by 48%.**  
 **Passively increases VIT by 48%.**  
 **Passively increases INT by 48%.**  
 **Passively increases WIS by 48%.**  
 **Additional 48% increase to STR when activated.**  
 **Additional 48% increase to DEX when activated.**  
 **Additional 48% increase to VIT when activated.**  
 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 23.15% MP:960, 960 per second**  
 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**  
 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**  
 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**  
 **Passively sets base Dex to 104**  
 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**  
 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 18%**  
 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**  
 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL4 EXP: 18.51% MP:850 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL6 EXP: 46.09% MP:100**  
 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**  
 **Current % from trigger:6%**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL7 EXP: 18.98% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 46.5% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Language (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.76% MP:300, 300 per minute**

 **The user has started on the incredibly arduous journey of learning a new language, and as such has the ability to learn such.**

 **Occasionally grants knowledge of words when hearing them.**

 **Current chance: .8%**

 **Actively allows memorization of words and multiplies the above odds by 10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL6 EXP: 72.51% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 12%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 18%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL2 EXP: 59.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 2%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 6 or 1%, whichever is larger.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Off-Hand: Simple Broadsword - Given by Xander this sword is just as its name says. Nothing special.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Runies Helm - A black medieval looking helmet. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Chest: Runies Guard - A black medieval looking breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Legs: Runies Greaves - A black medieval looking pair of leggings. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Feet: Runies Boots - A black medieval looking pair of boots. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Wrists: Runies Gauntlets - A black medieval looking pair of gauntlets. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Hands: Runies Gloves - A black medieval looking pair of hand guards. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2: Sutra - A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Back: Runies Guard cont. - A large cape and a continuation of the breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**


	11. Environment-3

**This chapter is gonna include a lot of info on the Hokori, all the important parts being bolded. If you don't care and just want action or plot developement, we got that too.**

The ground shook, a literal earthquake shaking the land for miles around. Something was coming up from the deep.

Still far underground, an AI was finally awoken, and it demanded the earth itself. Sending the underground factory of Arcadis to the surface with the same machinery that originally pulled it down, the land met it's match, a massive fissure being cut into it as the giant concrete and mechanical building pushed the top floor above-ground.

S.P.I.R.I.T. watched the progress from her location at the base of the factory, suddenly becoming alerted to the presence of other creatures in the distance as the camera's came online.

Attention grabbed by the terrifyingly loud noise and earthquake, Hokori were swarming towards the factory. Because of the wide net the place cast, it even managed to draw some truly dangerous Hokori: A pair of DaiChik. Most people had never seen one, since they were actually pretty rare on top of deadly, but because of what they were Trevor knew of their existence.

 **DaiChik are a plant-like Hokori that builds its combat body out of the ground, making a golem-like form that it would use from the inside. Without that body they were fairly vulnerable, but it took seconds to craft it and with the enormous size, and the fact that most of it's body is easily replaced real time, they were pretty hard to put down. These traits are what puts it above most of the rest of them.**

 **Before the war all of the Hokori had been classified in tiers, at least all known Hokori. The tiers are 1, 2, 3, and god. No god tier have been discovered, but it is believed that they are responsible for the seemingly random base destruction.**

 **T1 were the lowest it got. They includes the Pansa, a feline Hokori reminiscent of a panther, hence the name, the Ritoru, a bull like beast, and the Gen+Koka, a two headed lizard where one head would explode if struck, and regenerate using the smoke as cover. The most odd of them was obviously the Gen+Koka, especially since its necks could shift their locations relative to the body, allowing them to rearrange on top of the healing factor.**

 **Above that were far too many beings to be worth mentioning here. Whenever one is encountered I will mention their tier. For completionists sake, the No-Te is a T-2.**

Spirit signals the factory above to start manufacturing a variety of 'simple' robotic soldiers to battle the oncoming threat. Among them are humanoids with guns, cats with nitrogen-throwers (Imagine a flame thrower that shoots liquid nitrogen instead), and mobile artillery/missile launchers.

The process takes a whole minute before Spirit is satisfied, but luckily she had that time due to the lack of mobility or ranged weaponry in the Hokori arsenal. The troops, not yet named due to this being their testing phase, open fire on the charging enemies.

Among them, there are quite a lot of Pansa and Ritoru, Gen+Koko being strangely absent, along with a variety of T-2.

Leading the charge, being designed to do just that, are the Ritoru, with a group of Reisa shortly behind.

 **Reisa are humanoids, roughly four times the dimensions of the average male, and they carve paths into the earth behind them as they run, creating a path for the less intelligent Hokori to follow. They have armored hands, but are otherwise fleshy. They also lack vital organs, but do have actual eyes unlike many of the larger humanoid Hokori.**

Behind them are the Pansa, trying to use the others as a shield during the charge. Way further in the back are what look like living tanks, having the shape of a bull, except the lack of horns, but being coated in biological armor far surpassing steel. They are unfortunately slow due to this, and as such even at full speed will take a while to enter the fight. These are the Rasuto.

Overall, because they completely surrounded the factory, they had a massive advantage in the assault. The Ritoru break through enemy lines, several falling due to bullet fire, but enough passing by in combat functionality to decimate the first wave. The cat-like robots leap onto the Ritoru, them being unable to get them off once above, and started tearing them to pieces. This was accompanied by the many artillery launchers blasting the Reisa's, tearing down most of them, but a few manages to block them with their fists.

Not that it really mattered through. The artillery, despite being on wheels and self-controlled, were not mobile enough to stop the Pansa from leaping over their own front line and going ham and cheese.

It was around this time that Spirit sent out her second wave of creations, a little more care going into their design. Among them were a cloakable version of the original androids, and what look like giant crab-human (think centaur style) armed with explosives and the same nitrogen-throwers the feline machines had yet to start using.

This wave had more success. Rushing in all direction, the cloaked soldiers tore through the masses. Meanwhile the C.R.A.B., already having been named, were shooting down the remaining Reisa by freezing their armor at the same time it gets blown up. This not only knocks their primary weapon out, but leaves them vulnerable to a killing blow from something else.

Just when the Hokori numbers has been shattered enough to dwindle, the DaiChik finally make their appearance. While they were running, they had abandoned their earthen bodies and walked on their spindly root-like legs. This unfortunately gave away its weakness, it had a single vital organ, although what exactly it was isn't apparent. The organ was moving around its body to dodge stray bullets while it was getting in range, and when they were within position the DaiChik rolled forward, picking up a massive collection of sandstone and dust for itself.

The momentum from the roll persisted, resulting in both of them barreling straight through Arcadis's defenses, tanking attack after attack without effect. Even destroying large chunks of its body did nothing as it repaired itself mid-motion.

Thinking on the fly, Spirit directs the factory to make yet another addition to its arsenal, but it would take some time for it to be finished.

Continuing the idea of winging it, Spirit has the nearby C.R.A.B.'s rush to get between the DaiChik and the facility.

The DaiChik lose momentum as they crash through the majority of the enemy forces, and are thus forced to stop. The pair stand up on their newly formed legs, the size difference becoming clear as they do so. The bodies of the DaiChik were as large compared to the Reisa as the Reisa was to a human. They lean forward and start swiping the 'gnats' that were shooting at it with their weaponry. Any material that was destroyed or blown off was simply regenerated from the ground.

That was the point after all.

Despite this, Spirit continued to send her forces to keep them busy, something that DaiChik, being a brainless creature, couldn't comprehend on its own.

It took well over a minute, and 90% of Spirit's troops, before her creation was complete. Coming out the factory doors to the location of the two DaiChiks was Spirit's own giant humanoid. On its shoulders it carried four total weapons, both of which looked like attached rocket-launchers, but that was proven false when they fired.

Shooting out of each were drills, each the size of a person in length and several times thicker.

The DaiChik reacted quickly enough, knocking one out of its trajectory each. Unfortunately for them both weren't needed.

Embedding into the sides of the creatures, the drills activated in search of the organ they witnessed earlier. It was apparent they could move it, so they'd just search everywhere.

Almost simultaneously, the DaiChik started shedding their coating in an effort to remove the drills from their 'bodies'. This didn't work, the drills moving too quickly for them to deal with without exposing themselves to everything else.

The DaiChik each react the only other way they could, ducking underground to hide. Unfortunately for them though, the drills found their targets, and killed them.

The area around the battlezone was completely covered in corpses and decimated machinery. No ground was visible with the possible exception if you counted the DaiChik's form. Regardless, this was Spirit's first successful defense, and she was gonna celebrate... Once she rebuilt her army of course.

All the forces remaining brought the scrap from the wrecked troops to the factory, recycling them for later. It was the apocalypse, you needed to be at least slightly efficient.

Draga's group reacted as you would expect when an earthquake occurs, they glared at Trevor and he made it stop. Boom, done. The vibrations from Arcadis no longer affecting Akilahara, except it did anyway. Draga triggers **[Electrical Silhouette]** , floating up to the cliffside and running towards the source of the earthquake. Where he came from, earthquakes didn't happen, so he wanted to investigate the strange vibrations. Because of how fast he moved in that state nobody was able to stop and explain it to him.

Draga made his way on foot to Arcadis. He was still cautious about basically teleporting with **[Electrical Silhouette]** ,not because it was dangerous to do it on its own, but because he couldn't say he wasn't gonna just appear in a trap. If he walked, he could sit on the spell in his mind and just swap at the moment of danger.

It takes a few minutes to make it there, even with his movement speed being over 20x a normal human, simply because it was so far away. He didn't actually make ti to the factory, however, before his HP was suddenly lower than before.

 _I don't feel any pain... What could it-._

Draga falls over, turned unconscious easily by some sort of super-sedative. Aura may counter poisons and the like, but not that fast.

It was an hour later when Draga finally regained awareness. He tried to feel around, but he was unfortunately bound to a wall, but still not opening his eyes in an attempt to make whatever it was think he was still asleep.

It didn't work.

A female voice speaks from the darkness Draga perceives, obviously not very far from him, but otherwise vague in source. It doesn't sound human, but not because of inflections or anything. It's too perfect. There are no inflections or slips in how she speaks.

"Welcome to Arcadis, human."

Draga opens his eyes and... See's nothing. The room is completely dark. This confuses him for a moment, so he questions the voice.

"How could you tell I was awake?"

Once again, the structure of the voice confuses him. This time it had inflections, but it was obviously the same voice. Oddly enough, it sounded familiar despite not being anyone he knew here.

"Simple. You biological organisms have too many differences between awake and not to be hiding it from me. I do find it odd that you don't have a pulse though."

 _I don't have a pulse? Does that mean I don't need to breath? Agh, more shit to find out._ Draga attempts to find the location of the voice in the darkness, but fails to. The voice probably belonged to a machine, based on how it used 'You biological organisms', so it wouldn't breath itself. How would he even track it? It takes a moment before he internally facepalms.

 _I am an idiot. It's a machine. It uses electricity. I could also escape these bonds and light up the room. Why am I such an idiot despite my high Int and Wis?_ It isn't until this time that he glances at one of his already open menu's, specifically his status screen. Down at the bottom, there was a new status effect.

 **Drugged (99%)**

 **Effectively reduces Wis and Int for cognitive purposes by the remaining %.**

 **While at 100% or above the afflicted target is knocked out.**

 **Reduces Dex by the remaining %.**

 **Loses 1% per minute per base Vit.**

 **This is a physical status effect.**

 _Well... That explains that at least._ The machine-voice speaks before he gets a chance to continue.

"What are you doing, human?"

Instead of answering through words, Draga laughs at the machine. He now knew why it sounded so familiar: It was copying his voice except still female. This seems to confuse the AI. _And I know why it didn't kill me. I still have that title equipped._

" _What_ are you doing?"

"Having some fun."

The second he finishes saying that, he vanishes from his bonds and moves into a standing position just in front of them. When he materializes again the room flashes into view, only for a moment, but it's long enough.

He see's Spirit for the robotic AI that she is.

And she see's the maniacal smile on the crazed nutter in the room with her.

"My first boss fight in this world-"

Draga's body starts glowing, electricity coating his entire body and clothing.

"-and the only one I am allowed to go crazy for-"

Draga is rather sluggish in his movements, even with his aura active, but it doesn't seem to matter since the moment he gets her within his sights a pair of lightning bolts blast off of him and hit her. It's obvious by the more standard blue-hue of the arc that this wasn't **[Pale Lightning]** , but rather something new.

"-and it gives me something as weak as you."

Draga ignores any popping up notifications as he looks around the room. Spirit was on the ground knocked out cold, rather annoying Draga who was looking for a better fight than that, and the rest of the room was barren. He couldn't even identify a door.

 _If you hit a wall, hit it hard._ Draga enters a sprinters position before charging straight forward, the elemental effect surrounding him increasing his speed up to at least normal human running speed. When he hits the wall, all the energy forms a protective barrier in front of him and burns through it instead, creating an opening into what looks like a hallway.

Standing motionless around the room are a large series of robots, a collection of the ones mentioned before, but Draga takes the time to examine them. It takes about three minutes, but he does eventually learn how most of them worked, structurally anyway. Strangely, none of them moved this entire time. They didn't have names or titles either, only levels between 10 and 30 based on machine.

Unfortunately for him though, Spirit had woken up, and she was angry.

All of the machines come to life, their eyes glowing red to display Spirit's fury. Unfortunately for her, Draga had recovered a lot from the status effect, bring his cognitive ability back from 'Barbarian' to 'Moderate genius'. This relatively small difference was enough though.

The room was suddenly alight with electricity.

All of it.

The machines stopped moving, the entirety of their circuitry being made useless without drastic repairs.

"You! You... Savage! What are you doing!?"

Draga walks into the room, coming face to face with Spirit. He was still emitting electricity around him, and he'd gained a skill for it, but he wasn't reading it even now. He'd do that once he got out of this mess.

"Well, when someone confronts me with death robots or binds me in dark rooms I get kind of angry. Why did you take me here anyway?"

"I _was_ gonna offer you a deal, but with how you're acting I don't think that's possible."

Draga bends over into a formal bow, his **Drugged** status effect continuing to dissipate over time.

"You drugged me, and expected me to act sane? Terrible thought process. Either way, I will hear you out."

Spirit seems to contemplate for a moment. _I can't attack him, it'd be child's-play for him to beat my actual body. He took out the robots down here, and while I have more they would make noise... Note to self: make truly undetectable robots at some point. It'd take work, but definitely worth it. Alright, human, I'll tell you the deal._

"The deal was originally going to be, you let me use your body for research on the new humans and I protect you from the Hokori. Unfortunately that doesn't seem like it will work now, so instead I offer you technology and you can offer things yourself."

Draga thinks about this for a moment, something Spirit catches onto without comment. _I have ranged weaponry and mobility covered, that does leave physical confrontations though. The tech could certainly help, at least if the weapons I saw out there are any indication. What to offer though? She wanted to experiment on me..._

"Why did you desire to experiment on me?"

"I have but just woken up. I need to learn of how humans and the Hokori have changed if I am to defeat the enemy."

 _Sounds reasonable enough. I don't know much, but she doesn't know that. I can always pin it off as an understanding if I get caught._

"I will trade my services and knowledge in exchange for technology. My body is mine, and unless I request it you leave it alone, capiche?"

Spirit is actually taken aback, although doesn't physically move because of it, that he offered such a useful arrangement. His services would be quite helpful, especially with that almost-teleporting technique.

"What can you do exactly, human? I know you can create electricity, something that in it's own right is helpful, and teleport, but can you do anything else?"

"Draga, and I guess you could call me a jack of all trades. Give me the idea, and if mechanical, the tools needed, and I'll get to work. Why do you ask though?"

"Always good to examine new assets."

"Fair enough. On that note, could you make some super-kickass swords?"

Spirit levels a glare at him, something she can do since her form had realistic human exterior if not for the entirely silver coloration if not for the eyes, which shined a brilliant purple.

"Kickass?"

Draga scratches the back of his head, kinda embarrassed at his slip of juvenile vocabulary.

"Sorry, still drugged."

Spirit, in the process of returning to her thoughts, raises an 'eyebrow' before turning away from him.

Draga waits patiently for a reply, and it's good he does cause it takes nearly a minute.

"I can make you some advanced swords, yes. I take it from that you or a friend of yours are swordsman?"

"Me and a friend, yes. I believe I said I'd offer knowledge. How much do you know of the world?"

"Nothing really, besides that I was made to deal with the Hokori. My 'father' said I wasn't ready and shut me off before sending the factory underground. That was *%&-"

Spirit raises an eyebrow in tandem with Draga's own. _What was that?_ Spirit tries again to figure out how long ago she was shut off, but it fails. It's only then that she see's just how much of her data is invalid.

"Apparently I don't even know that. If you would, tell me all you know about what happened since the Hokori attacked."

"Well...-"

Draga scratches the back of his head again, the nervousness taking hold before **[Gamer's Mind]** kicked in.

"-I don't really know anything like that. Trevor told me about how the battle isn't over entirely, but we are behind enemy lines right now, or something like that. He doesn't have specifics because he's been hear for a while."

"So in other words your knowledge is useless to me?"

Draga groans before nodding towards her.

"I still have my powers. I imagine resource transportation and a super-soldier would be helpful."

Spirit concedes the point and waves him off.

Draga raises an eyebrow in confusion. His map was still providing a surface view of the place, and it didn't seem like there were any options to change that. As such, he had no idea how to get around.

"Uh, you still haven't told me how to get out."

"Right, right."

A panel in a wall outside opens up, revealing a staircase.

"Go up through that. It'll take you all the way up and outside without any chance of getting lost in the facility. Goodbye."

Spirit turns around, as if she was looking out a window in that direction, which it could be thought of as what she was doing. She was entering a state of deep concentration with which to manipulate her robots directly, and this included acquiring their vision.

With that control she directed them to develop the swords that were requested.

During this time, Draga disappears completely from the facility, appearing at the surface having traveled through the staircase as lightning.

 _I should really use this more... There don't seem to be any people who can stop me, something that I kinda expected, life being a game and all._

As he starts the long run home, something he has to do since he unfortunately ran out of mana, Draga reads his notifications, gaining a Vit along the run as well.

 **Through specific action the skill [Lightning Shell] has been created.**

 **Lightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP:18.92% MP:990, 990 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 2% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 120% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 2.**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Through specific action the skill [Lightning Aura] has been created.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP:86.21% MP:9500, 950 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 6% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Through specific action the skill [Lightning Flash] has been created.**

 **Lightning Flash (Active) LVL1 EXP:50.00% MP:100 per m^3**

 **The user shocks a massive area around himself. This ability can not be used selectively.**

 **Damage scales with Electrical Storm's.**

 **Through specific action the skill [Intimidate] has been created.**

 **Intimidate (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The user has become able to scare others to get what they want.**

 **Makes persuasion attempts 1% more likely to work per point in the larger of Str, Vit, or Int.**

Draga whistles while reading the bounty he acquired. All in all, not exactly the best passives, but the actives were just powerful. Shame he couldn't upgrade his **Dex** any way but upgrading his **[Electrical Silhouette]**.

 **"Set base Dex to 105"**

 **Would you like to disable this passive effect?**

 **Y/N**

 _What?_ In front of him, the moment he mentions it, this pop-up appears. _I have a far lower base Dex and still don't have points, but it would be good to know for later._

 **I have come to a decision, and I realized a few things I need to tell you all.**

 **Firstly, I am no longer gonna post every single one of his abilities every time. I will now be posting stats and changed abilities instead.**

 **Second, I have not been counting equipment towards his stats simply because he doesn't use them. This will be changing in the coming chapters.**

 **Thirdly, the training montage hasn't quite happened, and I realize this, so expect it in the near future. The next chapter will likely be that chapter.**

 **On that note, here we are.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV20**

 **HP: 5095**

 **MP: 25289**

 **Str: 19(57.855)**

 **Vit: 51(101.898)**

 **Dex: 104(276.8688)**

 **Int: 50(146.1825)**

 **Wis: 50(146.1825)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL10 EXP 22.12% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 10**

 **Current total affinity: 21.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**  
 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**  
 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**  
 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**  
 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**  
 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**  
 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**  
 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**  
 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL5 EXP: 69.69% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 5%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 15 or 2.5%, whichever is larger.**


	12. Environment-4

As Draga finished his reading he closed the menu's, revealing Trevor and Listeria talking with what appeared to be some advanced robots. They were each composed of a clean silver-colored steel with decorative coloring and what appeared to be wings. The one at the front was slightly larger, armed with a larger sword-like weapon, and oddly enough had no face. Thinking it to be something Spirit concocted, Draga completely ignores the machines as he meets up with Trevor.

"Trevor, I have a job apparently. Kinda cool. Looks like you met Spirit too?"

Trevor glances at him, confusion evident on his face. He gestures towards the five, slightly above 6' humanoid suits.

"This is Mesan and his group, and we just met now. Who's this Spirit?"

Draga glances towards the machines, only now taking notice of their nameplates.

 **[LVL 58]**

 **Mesan, Lord Of Machines**

 **[LVL 42]**

 **Coalis, Lord Of Health**

 **[LVL 13]**

 **Unis, Lord Of Youth**

 **[LVL 18]**

 **Portisha, Lord Of Emotions**

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Alistair**

Despite the level disparity between Mesan and Alistar, Mesan was the one in the larger suit. _Well, if he has the better suit it's likely he makes them, especially with his title the way it is._

Draga uses [ **Observe]** on the group, but unfortunately the armor intercepts the skill, making it observe it instead. He does learn that the suits of power armor were indeed created by Mesan, and were also called "Hydra Suits".

"Nice to meet you, Mesan. I am Draga Konungur, a friend of Trevor's."

None of the group speaks, although because of the rigidness of the suits mask/helmet it was unclear if this was by choice. The only thing that possibility down was Trevor knew his name. Instead, Mesan holds a hand out to shake with Draga.

Draga obliges readily.

Unfortunately for Draga's hand, Mesan couldn't fully control the strength of the mech, and as such crushes his hand to the point of a bone fracturing.

"GAH!"

Draga tears his hand from the grip, the bones knitting themselves into place as if it never happened, only a doc of over 100 HP being evidence it ever happened. Draga gives him a glare to which he shrugs.

"Right... Well, I am going to train for a while. Feel free to come to me later."

Draga zips away, not wanting to interact with the people that just broke his hand for the moment. In all likelihood they'd end up at Akilahara too. There was a big question linger about though... What's with the timing? Spirit appearing, okay, might be coincidence, but with another group it was starting to look like the game was intentionally putting him into times where problems would occur.

Stopping once he was on the complete other side of Akilahara, Draga went about setting himself up for his training exercise. _First order of business, magic manipulation. I'd been neglecting that for a while now..._

Despite having unlocked the power to control magic on its own for a while, Draga hadn't touched the idea since lightning was just so effective. Of course, lightning wasn't effective against everything, even if it would keep him safe, something Draga was pretty sure was gonna stay the way it was.

He holds his hands out in front of him, closes his eyes, and remembers the feeling and weight of his sword. It takes a moment, but soon that weight was real as he created two mana-based physical duplicates of his sword. Twisting them in his hands and taking a few swipes rewards him with the skill.

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:80, 80 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 _That's nice. Not what I really need though._ Draga dismisses the blades, and then does another experiment.

Releasing the mana out from his palms as a stream, while keeping it connected like the sword, Draga creates a weak cord. Not actually using it, he doesn't get a skill, but he continues to work with it.

Twisting it around its pair, Draga creates a magical rope of sorts, and once again, he doesn't get a skill.

As a last step, Draga condenses the mana around the center of the rope, and changes its shape quite a bit, turning it into a knotted chain. Swinging it around, Draga unlocks another skill.

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:80, 80 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 5m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

Not quite finished, Draga continues with one last test. Summoning a **Astral Blade** and connected it to the end of the chain, he creates his newest weapon, and by swinging it around he gets the skill he originally wanted.

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:150, 150 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 5m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 _Alright, not exactly what I wanted, but it's a 10 MP discount per second on top of making it a single cast which saves me time. It also means I can make both at once, rather than one at a time due to combining them._

Flinging the blade the 5m it can go away, it latches into the ground and anchors itself there. Draga doesn't pull on it physically, but rather on the mana of the chain itself, and to his delight he's pulled along the chain to the blade.

Tearing it out of the ground, Draga generates another one with his free hand. He then flings them in opposite directions, the same happening with both of them.

Unlike last time however, when he triggers the pull the blades pull themselves through the ground itself to him. _So they won't even attempt to pull me apart... Also good to know._

Having a melee-ish weapon, Draga now needed a way to armor himself since using **Electrical Silhouette** would unequip his actual suit of armor. _Might as well throw in a ranged attack too._

Picking defense as more important since he could always use **Pale Lightning** to attack from a distance, Draga sets out to make his armor first. Sitting down and entering a meditative state _*Something he was VERY much annoyed wasn't a skill*,_ he starts trying to harden his skin with mana directly.

It works, but not how he anticipated.

 **Reinforce (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **The user has learned to use mana to tanks damage from attacks.**

 **Every second, the user may send any amount of mana into this skill. For every point on it, they gain 2 DR for that second.**

 **If the mana spent meets or exceeds 100000 the user becomes invulnerable for that second to applicable damage.**

 **By using an elemental affinity and this ability the user can change the dynamic effectiveness against specific types of damage.**

 _As good as that is, and I will use it, I still want actual armor so I can explain the durability to others. I also can't level that without actual damage, at least it would be broken if I could._

He continued to experiment, this time he pushes the mana out of his skin, making it a coating around him. This time around, he gets exactly what he was looking for, a favorite spell from his times playing Basements n Behemoths: Mage armor.

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:100, 100 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 100.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 _Perfect. While I have plenty of mana, I think I need to spend some time training these before I can do much else. Let's try for one more active buff before hitting the fields._ Like before, when he unlocked reinforce, Draga sent mana throughout his entire body, primarily the skin, but this time he had a different plan in mind. He used his elemental affinity for lightning to channel it into the mana currently coating his entire body. This triggers the same general effect of **Lightning Shell** , but it was supposed to. That wasn't the end of the experiment.

With it active manually, it wasn't technically the skill, which allowed for customization. He gradually amps up the electricity flowing through him, along with the mana, before cutting off the mana entirely. What remains is something new, a literal electrical body enhancement. When he moves, thinking it fail, a skill pops up confirming that it actually worked.

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 1 for reflex challenges.**

 _Not what I was looking for, but it looks like I'm stuck with it. It will help anyway._ Draga equips his armor, turns on the rest of his newer abilities and the normal **Aura** and runs.

Draga completely lost track of time, and when he finally stops running the sun had actually already started rising, it having been only mid-afternoon when he started. Even with all of his skills enhancing reaction time and perception speed, he could still be move oblivious than an alexathymiatic (Unable to feel) worm.

Reinforcing his obliviousness, he doesn't even realize he's voicing his thoughts.

"I could probably create a skill for that... Ah well, I should probably go back now."

He pulls up the map, and realizes he'd actually been running in a roughly spiral shape out and away from the city. Despite having spent around 12 hours running, he was only a few hours of running from there, and he could always travel faster.

Switching **Electrical Silhouette** on, Draga zips from his location, appearing at his destination a mere second later. Well, technically it was much faster than that, but he took the time to float over the town to fill out his map.

When he stopped in the middle of town, he went to where his map indicated Trevor was. Listeria was nearby, and apparently headed there too, so he could meet with them both at the same time. Strangely though, none of Mesan's group was on the map.

"Yo, Trevor, something happen?"

Trevor doesn't speak, but when he turns to face Draga his expression says it all.

He was scowling.

Now, if you hadn't known Trevor for long it was reasonable to say he may or may not do that when frustrated, but according to **[Observe]** he felt genuine rage, and genuine fear. It wasn't directed at Draga, luckily, but that only brought up the question of who it was targeted at.

Listeria arrived a few seconds later, Trevor still not having said anything. She was carrying with her a rather large weaved hiking pack filled with food, closed water containers, and spare clothing, and another which was empty, likely for Trevor to do the same on his own. Draga takes the initiative and asks Listeria as well.

"What's going on?"

"We... We're going to war."

"The two of you?"

"Well, and this is something we regret, we are going to war with your new boss."

Before Draga can get a word in, a quest pops up.

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Time and Time Again**

 **Mesan has aligned himself with Spirit, who for whatever reason has declared war on the remainder of humanity, you and Mesan's group being the only possible exceptions. Trevor and Listeria, having been given notice by the surprisingly sportsmanlike Alistair, are on their way to Arcadis.**

 **Join a side of your choice or abandon humanity. Should a side be chosen, then fight till the conflicts resolution.**

 **Quest reward: Various allies, ?, ?, ? (Based on choice)**

 **Quest failure: Death, world destruction, various enemies (Based on choice/severity of failure)**

Since the quest didn't have a **Y/N** at the bottom, Draga automatically assumes he has no choice in participation. Draga glances at Trevor, who was curious as to what Draga was doing, after all, Draga was obviously reading what he interpreted as air.

"Well, I'll support you, but I want to see why Spirit's motive's have changed first. Don't mention me and we should do just fine."

Trevor nods, waving him off. It was at least 4 vs 6 in terms of the battle, so it wouldn't be very fun. Chi was already headed out too, being unwilling to sit by and wait for an attack. Trevor and Listeria were just preparing to follow after him.

"See you."

Draga vanishes from his spot, a yellow blur trailing behind him to the location he wanted to go: Spirit's layer. Fortunately the path, while closed, was still available from elsewhere in the facility, so he landed in the middle of it. Despite how long it seemed to take, well over an hour, only 1.5 real life seconds have passed. Spirit was aware of him already, having seen the trail leading throughout the building the variety of camera's that were mostly newly installed.

"I assume you're here to join me?"

The voice wasn't as before. Not only was it not copying his dialect, but it wasn't even feminine anymore. The body of Spirit was still the same, but the voice no longer matched her form because it sounded almost demonic. Draga doesn't stay his tongue just because of that though.

"Why are you doing this?"

"The war? I need more samples, and with Mesan's help I can have anyone I want. I was created to kill the Hokori, and that I will do, regardless of the methods."

Draga thinks about that for a second. _Is it moral to stop something from doing the worlds greatest good with what it fully believes are moral methods? Wait, why am I even questioning this? She's gonna kill humanity! I... But the Hokori would do that anyway... Ugh._

"What would I need to do in order for the Hokori to die, and the humans not?"

Spirit finally turns to Draga, the only visible difference being that her eyes now had a colored iris: red.

"Even if the Hokori were all slain right now, I would need a new purpose. Cataloging the existing humans and protecting their remains sounds like a honorable goal, no?"

Spirit actually smirked at the end of that. Smirked. _I... Was my title manipulating her emotions and her actions, making her a more reasonable person for the conversation? God dammit, I need a manual for this kinda crap! Where's the tutorial too?_

Spirit tilts her head at him to display her confusion.

"You space out a lot."

Draga shakes his head to bring himself back to the land of the... Well, land containing the living.

"I do, don't I? Anyway, I don't think from your point of view what you are doing is wrong. That doesn't mean others, such as myself, won't think you are doing evil."

"You think I am evil?"

Draga's turn to smile finally arrives.

"Well, good and evil aren't what really matter to me right now. It's more that I want to have some fun."

Something strange happened around that moment. Normally Spirit didn't have a nameplate since she wasn't human and her AI wasn't actually complete. That of course changed and a giant red nameplate burst into vision with the first good news since arrival: She wasn't herself.

 **[LVL?]**

 **S.P.I.R.I.T., The Vessel Of Chaos**

Okay, that's not exactly true. **Observe** was needed to reveal the specific but the title did at least hint to being controlled. The newly opened box actually stated that. Apparently something called Tzeench was watching and changing her AI.

Draga doesn't receive more time to think about it as Spirit lunges at him.

Even with the semi-transparent pop-up in his way, Draga is able to tell what Spirit is doing and thanks to one of his newer skills he reacts as close to instantly as you can get.

Triggering essentially every ability that boosts his speed besides **Electrical Silhouette** , Draga ducks, visibly in slow motion, under the fast-moving automaton. Despite his perceptions making everything super slow, the speed Spirit moves is absurd compared to before the change.

Spirit tumbles forward, rolling off the ground into a standing position before turning to Draga.

"You aren't gonna make this easy for me, are you?"

"Nope."

Draga slacks one knee, falling to the side because of it. He uses the angle given to kick off the ground and out the door.

Rolling back to his feet in the hallway he originally defeated the rogue AI, Draga notes that all the robots are still inactive, although they seem repaired. That changes a moment later as they all light up, their 'eyes' focusing on him before they actually turn.

Spirit walks out of the previous room, clapping and making a sound that shouldn't be possible for a metallic body.

"Welcome to Arcadis, for the last time."

The facility enters lockdown, all of the doors closing outside the general area Draga was in, constraining him to the facility unless he wanted to test his luck telefragging sandstone.

 **Background Music enabled: Ignite, Zedd**

As the drum-like beat rocks the world around him Spirit starts smiling, apparently being able to hear it herself. The moment the instrumentalists kick up the nameplate turns bright red while two skulls appear on either side of it.

 **I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. Sorry guys. Boss fight coming up though. I will attempt to keep at least 1 a week from now on, probably more. This chapter was actually finished the day prior, but I didn't do the authors note or ability updates until just now. Once again, sorry. Please review though.**

 **Also, as a public reply to that one review about me rounding numbers, I will round to the third digit but the numbers are relevant to that point.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV20**

 **HP: 5164**

 **MP: 26976**

 **Str: 19(60.249)**

 **Vit: 51(103.275)**

 **Dex: 104(291.152)**

 **Int: 50(152.888)**

 **Wis: 50(152.888)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL7 EXP: 4.20% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 7%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 21 or 3.5%, whichever is larger.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL12 EXP 83.95% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 12**

 **Current total affinity: 23.54**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**  
 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**  
 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**  
 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**  
 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**  
 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**  
 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**  
 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**  
 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**  
 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**  
 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**


	13. Environment-5 (Boss Fight)

The pair stand off for a few seconds while the music goes on, the beat only making it more tense. Spirit acts first: lunging forward in a simple punch to the chest

Draga counters fluidly, having speed at such a ridiculous pace as to make it easy. He ducks beneath the swing and slams his newly empowered, by literally triggering all buffs, fist into the machines silver chest.

And then the fist travels straight through her, along with the rest of him, as Spirit continues forward. She turns to him with the smile only growing wider.

"Gonna take more than that to hit me."

Draga doesn't get time to think on that as he's knocked to the floor from a blow to the head. Looking up as he falls, he see's "Spirit" vanish and another one standing behind him.

"Learn some new tricks?"

"Oh, plenty."

The voice doesn't come from where Spirit was standing, instead coming from near one of the walls. A similar fizzle effect occurs on the one above Draga and Spirit shows up again leaning comfortably against the wall.

"Illusions?"

Instead of replying, Spirit vanishes again while another appears above him with a downward kick going for his neck.

Draga triggers **Electrical** **Silhouette** , and with the electrical sense, determines that Spirit is in fact the one above him. He moves just behind her before casting **Electrical Storm** in the area she makes up and slightly around her.

Despite the previously shown vulnerability to electricity, Spirit doesn't so much as twitch from the attack while she turns around to face Draga.

"You didn't think that would work twice, did you?"

Draga swings his arms in a wide arc, magic chains reaching out from his hands while they move and forming a scissor attack to trap Spirit with. Spirit doesn't seem to act, but Draga is already aware that she uses illusions so he flips himself in place, the movement raising one of the blades higher in the air in case she jumped and lowering the other in case she ducked.

Turns out that she did neither as Draga is knocked back by an actual real life drop kick.

 _What the hell? Nobody does a dropkick. Nobody. It's a completely amateur move that leaves one completely vulnerable._ He says that, but he was currently falling to the floor with a 400 pound mechanical AI standing on his chest.

The moment Draga painfully impacts with the ground, Spirit kicks off his sternum and vanishes behind another illusion.

Draga remains on the ground for a moment, using it to observe his own HP. The first blow had done around 200 damage, reduced by 100 by **Mage Armor**. The second blow did around 600 reduced by the 100 again. Total drop of slightly under 600 damage, but his regen was a quite surprising 800 a second without **Aura**. All the damage he was dealt was gone by the time he stood up.

"You would make a great specimen. I can offer you a table under my knife rather than death if you'd like."

Shaking his head, Draga declines. With his RP regen, he'd survive this ordeal just fine.

As if reading his mind, Spirit smirks. Literally on cue, the variety of pre-awakened robots open fire on Draga. The variety of weaponry, ranging from bullets to energy blasts to liquid nitrogen forms what is essentially a wall of death to Draga's eyes. Each blow might not do much damage, but his DR had... _Wait a second, I have_ _ **Reinforce**_ _. I can tank all this shit._

Pumping mana into the ability for the 3 or so seconds it took for most of their weapons to need a reload, Draga was literally impervious. Sure, it took a whole 1200 mana, but he had plenty to spare with his broken as shit MP regen rate. The only weapons seemingly unaffected by clips are the reverse flame-throwers.

"Gonna need stronger weapons than that to-"

He's cut off from his taunt when a pop-up appears in front of him with a new status effect.

 **Frozen [MAX]**

 **The affected units are unable to move from their current location and take triple impact, piercing, or fire damage.**

 **This is a physical status effect.**

"Fuck."

The effect easily lasts long enough for the veritable army of machines to reload. More file into the room from outside as well. What may or may not be Spirit simply looks on as they all open fire.

Fire being the key word there.

The crab-like machines that previously bombarded him with nearly absolute zero temperature nitrogen, were now shooting out what **Observe** determined was chlorine tri-fluoride, a material able to literally burn through concrete and gravel as if it was propane. Needless to say, it burned through the ice like a hot knife through nothing. Draga, being unable to move, blew a shit ton of his mana to resist the attack for the slightly less than a second it took for the Frozen status effect to be nullified.

Unfortunately, that dropped him by slightly less than all of his MP, the damage being just stupid ridiculous, and would actually take some time to regen.

While the weapons continue to blast off at full power, Draga pops **Electrical Silhouette** and enters the original room where he found Spirit. Taking advantage of the temporary respite, Draga equips the armor he'd previously left not collecting dust in his inventory.

 _Electricity doesn't hurt her, and he has an army just outside. I should only have a few seconds in here before they file in, and while I can kite I already know she can just produce more machines. Okay, so I either take Spirit out, or disable her army and simply tank her powers until she gives up. Plan B it is._

As his last act before they rush in, Draga creates a pair of **Astral Flail's**.

As a swarm the veritable army of machines surge through the airplane hanger sized door opening, quickly forming enough troops to open fire again.

Draga acts quickly, reinforcing himself against the damage with a lightning element enhanced **Mage Armor** heating up his body to resist the frozen effect. While this effect is going on, he swings both of his blades around himself in an attempt to cleave his way through the army.

Unfortunately for Draga the blades were not sharp enough nor fast enough to cut through more than 1 or two at a time per swing.

Under the hail of weaponry, and with all of his buffs active, Draga's mana was actually going down. His HP regen could take a portion of it using **Scales** , but that wouldn't be sufficient. _I need a plan here..._

Draga uses what little mana he has left to cast an ability he got the last time he visited, and the entire room lights up like fireworks. Unfortunately for Draga, it seems the robots all got some upgrades because while they are stunned, unlike Spirit, they are not killed by having their entire bodies electrocuted.

Using the meager time he was given, Draga launches the blades past the army, the blades embedding into the two far corners of the room. Using the tested technique he did before, having both of them pull, Draga also launches himself off the ground. Without any forces stopping him, the blades pull Draga up and over the enemy, the chains dangling below and severing their bottom halves from their top halves.

 _Looks like the game system has some bugs or potential exploits. Since it can cut the material, the chains can contract themselves through it. Anything that works I guess._

With half the army now out of commission, Draga is able to slowly regen mana, a rate of about 90 per second, while defending himself. Before he can do anything, he is unfortunately brought back into the big problem as Spirit makes another move.

Everything in Draga's vision becomes fog as the entire area is shrouded in an illusion. He can still feel the impacts of bullets and the fluctuating temperature from the attacks, but he can't see them or hear them, the silence being the most eerie part of the setup. _Why would she wait to use this? I can only think there has to be some limitation to it or she'd start with this._

Figuring he should get started and Spirit clearly having something planned, Draga dashes into where he remembers the biggest cluster of add-ons to be. Using his vastly enhanced Dexterity, Draga dashes around wildly swinging his **Astral Flail**.

Doing so, Draga cleans through their numbers rather quickly, but unfortunately for him more are filing in outside his ability to sense so the damage doesn't change.

 _What can I do? If I unequip this armor I'm stuck without it, so I can't use **Electrical Silhouette** to find Spirit, and without that I have no way to end this fight. For all I know the machines I am killing are being recycled into new ones right now. Wait... Spirit wants to win, right? She wouldn't just leave me here in an eternal stalemate. I need to goad her into acting either way... She seems irritable, taunting might actually work. God I love my power._

"Hey, Spirit, is this all you got? Keeping my knife at your neck for all of eternity?"

As a response Spirit kicks him in the head from her shroud. Making it seem like it actually hurt him, Draga rubs the point of impact.

"Is that everything? I can handle a little pain you know."

Spirit kicks him again, this time in the groin from behind. Unfortunately for Draga, hitting there counted as a critical so it passed his DR and well... 200 damage to the groin is gonna hurt even if it heals quickly.

Falling to the ground in complete agony, Draga unintentionally dodges another blow from Spirit who assumed he wouldn't react that way as he hadn't done so to anything else.

Draga's unfortunately still existent instincts took over and he rolls around while howling, after all his manberrys were hit.

Spirit, completely dumbfounded at his sense of pain but having at least found a weakspot, readies herself to hit his junk again. This wasn't meant to be, though, as his rolling around prevented any direct attack.

When his powers purge Draga's pain, he actually continues rolling around on the floor as a defense mechanism while he thinks about something.

 _She can see through the illusions somehow, but I can't. The machines she controls can as well, but that's to be expected... Are they person specific illusions or recreated stimuli like holograms and shit? I can't find out by myself, and the game system is being needlessly vague._ What he's referring to his how **Observe** said literally nothing when he used it, and the game system didn't say he had any status effects.

Annoyed at the bullshit going on, Draga finally stops moving. He was likely out of much danger here anyway, at least if he'd be fine with pain. What really confused him was how his **Physical Endurance** , the one that reduces physical damage, wasn't leveling up. _Maybe I need to actually take damage from their attacks..._

Draga slightly reduces the MP he's giving to reinforce, making it so that the hail of bullets, being the higher damage of the many projectiles coming his way, dealt exactly 1 damage to him. As long as they didn't hit his eyes he should be fine, and he could see the EXP bar on the skill climbing rapidly. Sure, his HP was going ever so slowly down, but he could stop that with **Scales** , not that he was going to. Mana was more important in this fight anyway.

"You are boring, Spirit."

A mocking laugh is heard, but because of the illusion effect going on Draga can't tell from where.

"You didn't expect me to entertain you, did you? I plan to kill you. Every time you make a mistake I get one step closer to ending you. I have to say, it hasn't been a pleasure."

The voice, unlike the laugh, was that of a gentleman. That was the most confusing part, it wasn't female anymore. Even the laugh was female. _What could have made it different? Spirit could talk like that if she wanted normally, I think anyway, so I can't rule out her messing with me... But why now?_

Spirit finally reveals herself, maybe, amidst the fog. She acts as if there is no stress, and Draga wouldn't try and kill her, as she skips up to him with a genuine-looking smile on her face.

"Let's play, shall we?"

The voice was different again, this time female, but far more childish than her previous verbal incarnation. Almost assured that she was just messing with him, Draga flippantly smacks the illusion, making Spirit dispel it.

"You don't know how to beat me, do you?"

She doesn't answer, which actually answers the question for him. Spirit might not have **Gamer's Mind** , but she was a complex AI which could surely keep itself calm and think logically. There was no way he could think of for her to put him down right now.

Of course, reality hates narcissists.

Draga looks down, in mild shock, as pain shoots up his leg. What he sees surprises him immensely.

His leg was missing.

Okay, that's not quite true, it was still there. He could see it.

His leg had been cut off. **Gamer's Body** meant he still had a leg, but nothing he'd been shown yet could even do more than a scratch with his defenses active. Checking his HP bar, he noticed a sudden drop of 900, on top of what he assumed was a previous drop of 900. The signal of severe pain finally reaches his brain and a big fat realization dawns on him with a serious case of hover-hand.

 _She's evolving._

How do you combat something that you can't sense, has a seemingly inexhaustible amount of resources, and can change?

 _Can't be done. At least, not how this is setup. I... Wait a second. What exactly is hurting me? It's a slash, so it has to be a melee weapon. It can't be a normal weapon or it wouldn't cauterize the wound on top of cutting cleanly... A plasma weapon?_

The train of thought continues for around 10 seconds, his limbs being hacked to shreds by the phantom weapon, totaling a drop of 15000 with the 600 or so a second from the bullets being allowed to deal 1 damage, which would kill him if not for his HP regen giving him a genuinely broken 800 a second, making the new total a loss of 1000. In all, this leaves him with effectively full HP.

During those 10 seconds Draga takes exactly 10 melee strikes, almost robotically happening once a second and never having multiple at a time which would imply one enemy. _If I provide any evidence the machine works, she's gonna make more though... I have to convince her it doesn't work while at the same time making it useless. That should at least buy me time._

Converting his excess HP regen into MP regen, Draga waits a few more seconds. When he uses **Electrical Storm** Draga creates a field of electrical element energy. Draga didn't have any other elements, something he might work on in the future, but what if he just put energy? _Wait... I don't know where he is, so it needs to be an actual AoE rather than targeted area._

Taking a brief moment to compose himself, Draga suddenly flares mana out in all directions. Unlike several other experiments, he gets the skill for it before the shockwave even leaves his body.

 **Blast (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **By expelling a massive amount of energy the user is able to cause a shockwave to go from a location outward.**

 **Actively expels mana do push with force based on Int, MP expenditure, and distance.**

 **Current source range: 0m**

 **Some elements can be used in conjunction with this ability to change it's effects.**

 **Currently available elements:**

Well, with a few thousand MP to work with, the ability was a huge hit. Puns. Anyway, all the enemies in the room are sent in the exact opposite direction of Draga, colliding with each other and a large number of them crumbling entirely into nice compact metal dishes. This has the added bonus of hitting Spirit too, although she is unfortunately not actually injured by the impact.

Pushing herself off the newly thickened metal wall, Spirit greets Draga in person for the first time since his arrival.

"Mortal, I might get mad at you."

The voice was new, although that alone wasn't exactly unexpected. What was unexpected was the voice itself, sounding not only maniacal and insane, but also more bored than angry.

"Is this Tzeench then?"

 **The Tzeench would be pronounced wrong, but I don't know how to convey that without this because of just how the word is.**

'Spirit' smiles.

"Oh, would you look at that. My little friend has fancy eyes."

The sentence was spoken with a almost perverse glee, as if something finally entertained him after months of boredom. _How does he know about what I can see? Hell, that came off of **Observe** , not the nameplate._

 _"_ Pay it no mind, Draga. Thinking will not help you here."

 _Thinking won't help me, huh? Is he saying no strategy I can up with will work?_

"No, you fool. I'm saying I can read your thoughts."

Draga grimaces. _Of all the things they could do to buff my boss, they made it able to create illusions, have a seemingly infinite army, and the ability to read minds... Wait a second..._

"Why didn't you use this until now?"

The mechanical body taken by Tzeench does a little dancing jig while he replies in a completely new voice, one filled with childlike innocence and oddly enough an echo effect.

"Well that wouldn't be as fun, besides, this AI was so rudimentary it was actually hard to take it, too many mechanical pieces."

"But she's you now?"

"She might be, or might not. You won't get to find out."

Unknown to the both of them, Mesan, having been delayed by having to maneuver the labyrinthine complex, finally arrives downstairs to find out what the absurd noises were.

"Right... I'm gonna take that as a challenge."

Draga lunges forward, aiming on using raw speed to overcome his newly predictable nature. Rash actions be damned, he still had to think to act, and as such the God falls under another illusion while ducking to crash into Draga's chest.

Unfortunately for both of them, Spirit's illusions were in fact holograms. This means all Mesan saw was Draga lunging at an unmoving Spirit at high speed.

He acts instantly, his suit providing him the speed necessary to get in front of 'Spirit', the illusion, and shoot and energy blast out towards Draga.

Unknown to him, a certain AI he knows was in the way.

The facility flashes white for a moment before going still.

 **Hey-o** **, Terakali here. This isn't the end of the arc by any means, this is gonna go on for a while, but I never actually planned out how to end the fight. Luckily, winging it is my base formula, so I got this covered. For those of you who don't know, Tzeench is a Chaos God from Warhammer 40k, and he is the god of time and thought among other minor things. Practically everything he does is to create the most entertaining future possible, so he wasn't actually trying to kill Draga. Tunnel vision being what it is, he did 'miscalculate' slightly, although being him this was secretly what he wanted all along. Tzeench is confusing, and trying to accurately control him even more so. Anyway, the Chaos Gods have the power to take over AI's, but this function occurs through code. Because more than half of Spirit's functionality was through mechanical parts rather than computer chips he had to work with what he got and gradually convert what he needed to take actual control, hence the gradual shift in personality.**

 **I wouldn't explain this in this manner if she became relevant in the future, but she was a one-off character and while I plan to close all the loose ends eventually, things like the aspect of Death in the Tavern will be used again at some point. Since she isn't, and nobody knew Spirit personally, I can't think of a way to explain her story in another way. If you have an idea, please review or PM with your solution. Because of this, Environment 5 may be subject to change in the future.**

 **In other news, I will be returning to posting a full character sheet because trying to keep track of everything across the docs has gotten unbearably annoying and I already have too many documents to keep track of. This may or may not count as inflating my story just due to the sheer amount of content it includes, but I will be removing anything that actually becomes irrelevant to the future so it doesn't get too massive. Also, I finally fixed the issue Aura and some of the other abilities were having with their line spacing.**

 **I will create a chapter at the end of this arc to explain the game system for this series since it varies from person to person on top of this series having different unique versions. Future gaming systems will be explained at the end of their arc excluding the one from TGWP. I have his permission to use his Jaune, but I would rather advertise his excellent series than explain about 200,000 words worth of content.**

 **Lastly, as a public reply to the review saying how I should round my numbers: That's not how numbers work. Not only was the math behind your chosen rounding completely wrong, but everything I have created is relevant to the third digit for my calculations, and technically the fourth for calculating the third. I have my methods, you have yours. Deal with it.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV20**

 **HP: 5164**

 **MP: 26976**

 **Str: 19(60.249)**

 **Vit: 51(103.275)**

 **Dex: 104(291.152)**

 **Int: 50(152.888)**

 **Wis: 50(152.888)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL12 EXP 83.95% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 12**

 **Current total affinity: 23.54**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 42.14% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 8.11% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 11% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 13% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL6 EXP: 46.09% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:6%**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Language (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.76% MP:300, 300 per minute**

 **The user has started on the incredibly arduous journey of learning a new language, and as such has the ability to learn such.**

 **Occasionally grants knowledge of words when hearing them.**

 **Current chance: .8%**

 **Actively allows memorization of words and multiplies the above odds by 10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL6 EXP: 72.51% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 12%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 18%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL7 EXP: 4.20% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 7%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 21 or 3.5%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Off-Hand: Simple Broadsword - Given by Xander this sword is just as its name says. Nothing special.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Runies Helm - A black medieval looking helmet. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Chest: Runies Guard - A black medieval looking breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Legs: Runies Greaves - A black medieval looking pair of leggings. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Feet: Runies Boots - A black medieval looking pair of boots. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Wrists: Runies Gauntlets - A black medieval looking pair of gauntlets. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Hands: Runies Gloves - A black medieval looking pair of hand guards. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2:** **Sutra - A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Back: Runies Guard cont. - A large cape and a continuation of the breastplate. Only grants full set bonus.**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**


	14. Environment-6

For one moment, all anyone and anything in the facility could see was white.

Then the facility turned black.

As Spirit's body was destroyed by the blast from Mesan, the entire facility went back to the way it was, dormant and locked down. All the lights, all the cameras, all the door: disabled.

That doesn't mean everything was done.

As the only still active things in the facility, Mesan's group having left for some sort of assignment, Mesan and Draga stand there stunned at what just happened, each for different reasons.

Mesan's suit allowed him to actually see in the complete darkness he was in, and all he saw was shattered chunks of Spirit's body and Draga standing behind where she was, seemingly unharmed.

Draga was stunned because he hadn't even see Mesan thanks to both tunnel vision and the flaws in actual human sight. Unable to see, he actually thought that he was dead.

Mesan recovers first, blinking several times to help clear his thoughts, and his vision settles on Draga.

"What did you do?"

Draga triggers **Electrical Shell** , something that was inactive a moment ago due to the shock he endured. This lights up the room, allowing Draga to see the person talking to him.

"What did I do? I didn't do anything. Your attack killed her."

Mesan turns around, looking for any sign that what he saw wasn't an illusion, but finds none. Facing Draga again, he replies in a commanding tone.

"What happened then?"

Draga raises an eyebrow at the question, but answers anyway.

"She created a illusion of her standing where you saw while moving to attack me. When you attacked it hit her, as she was between me and you."

Mesan inhales deeply through his nose before letting out an exasperated sigh. He takes a few steps towards Draga, his suit glowing bright blue before vanishing in a similar way to how equip/de-equip works for the Gamers.

"Well then, I must apologize. Seeing as she is dead, and I have no idea how to rebuild her, I no longer have any ties to Arcadis. May I swap sides?"

Draga deadpans, his expression becoming his answer when it transitions to an annoyed eyebrow twitching smile.

"I'll go ask Trevor then."

Mesan does a head-bow before jogging out of the area. The 6' 8" tower of a man generates his suit while doing so, granting him an additional 2" of height. The electric blue metal masks his simple cloth pants and leather overalls which in turn cover pale Caucasian skin, clearly not having seen the light of day in years.

Draga shakes his head to clear away his thoughts, glancing around the room a moment later for any loot.

Behind where Mesan was standing were a skillbook and a ring. Using **Observe** on them both, Draga learns they are called Phantom Visions and Chaos Token. Glancing at his pops ups he also learns he'd leveled up twice and…

He stops when he reads the newest one.

 **Your reputation with Tzeench has increased by ?.**

 _Why on Disboard did I get reputation with my enemy? Does he want me to beat his pawns?_

 _"No you fool, I find you entertaining."_

Draga freezes when the new voice enters his head.

 _Tzeench?_

 _"Who else?"_

 _What the hell are you doing._

 _"Having some fun."_

 _Right… WAIT WHAT?!_

 _"Hehehehe. You are an interesting human. I'll be watching."_

Despite Draga's attempts to reopen conversation with the Chaos God, Tzeench doesn't reply. Putting it aside as something to deal with later, seeing as there was nothing he could do now, Draga absorbs the skillbook.

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:8000, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through function as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 26% of the users are unaffected.**

Quickly testing it out, and leveling it up that quickly, Draga recreates Spirit standing in front of him where she was before her death. Maintaining it, Draga walks around and looks for any imperfections, but no.

Reaching out to grip her shoulder, Draga's hands go through the illusion with no resistance.

 _Figures. Creating artificial objects would probably cost far more, and require a different skill._

Draga puts the ring in his inventory before moving towards the wall that Spirit originally moved aside to reveal a staircase. Triggering the variety of skills that buff him, Draga melts his way through and into the exit.

After a rather long and casual walk up the stairs, Draga remembers something he saw Sora and Shiro do when they came to Disboard: Skydive.

 _I can fly too._

Draga triggers **Electrical Silhouette** , and starts floating up towards the clouds. He continues past that, reaching high enough into the sky that space turns almost black. Turning the ability off, Draga is suddenly wracked with pain as the air in his lungs is forcefully torn out.

Even without a vacuum, the pressure in his lungs was far higher then outside.

Not bothering to fight the pull, Draga exhales the air and starts falling.

The feeling of free-fall was euphoric. The 'wind' blowing past him at speeds Draga was still unable to go without **Electrical Silhouette** , which unfortunately disabled his ability to feel, was exhilarating. I could stay like this for hours.

Draga turned on **Electrical Shell** as a mechanism to allow faster speed, actually unlocking a skill in the process. I won't write the full ability here, since it's super simple, but it reduces air resistance by 1% per level.

As he falls around halfway to the ground, the skill, **Streamline** as it is called, levels up 6 times, a barely noticeable change in acceleration occurring every time it did.

Once he finally passes through one of the stratus clouds, Draga is able to see a slightly darker circle on the red ground beneath him. Believing that the be Akilahara, Draga reorients himself to glide there for his landing, making an adjustment a couple seconds later after **Mathematicians Answer** tells him the optimal trajectory for a 'bulls eye'.

Draga already calculated how long it would take to land, so he closes his eyes and prepares to cast **Electrical Silhouette** just as he's a inch or so from the ground.

Meanwhile, Mesan continues his search for Trevor. He'd been at Akilahara for a full minute now, and neither he nor his sensors has detected any life. He stopped in the middle of the town, took a brief turn to check for anything, and then sat down to rest. Lying on his back, Mesan closes his eyes and waits.

The sound of metal melting and being crushed at the same time goes out around the town, accompanied a moment later by the sounds of a skull breaking open. Luckily for the now electrical being that crashed into Mesan, he was a Gamer and the shattered skull was fixed the moment he transformed.

Mesan wasn't so lucky. Draga had blown through the armor of his lower belly with **Electrical Shell** , molten metal cauterizing the wound before fusing with his flesh, paralyzing his lower body. The impact force didn't help either, creating a powerful bout of nausea while simultaneously wracking his lower body with pain.

Draga quickly moves into a stand position above Mesan before re-materializing. A quick glance at his healthbar shows a drop of around 80% of it, the speed at which he reacted to the touch being his saving grace.

Mesan groans out in pain before giving Draga a few choice words, still unaware of who it was that did it.

"FUCK MAN! Gah!"

Mesan would be rolling around, but the metal fusing with his lower body was rooting him in place.

Draga, slightly worried about the lack of emotion he felt while looking at the man, tries to think of a way to heal him. Until now, he'd never even needed a way to heal somebody as his allies either had their own healing factor or weren't injured.

 _Well, there's always experimentation._

Draga presses his palm against the mans slightly exposed chest, sending aura through in the same way he did with Thrak a while ago. Mesan glows a vibrant blue for a moment before the light settles. No changes are visible, but the pain and nausea for Mesan goes away. The effects are just enough to stop him from blowing Draga away that instant.

 _Not enough... Hmmm..._

Draga's main abilities all centered around electricity, something he couldn't use if he wanted to heal a guy currently contained in and fused with metal.

Mesan, pain wracking his body anew as his nerves recovered enough to send the signals of his legs being combined with metal, screams more profanity at Draga. The Gamer ignores the currently crippled man in favor of trying to fix him.

Draga, instead of just sending his aura into him, sends his aura into him while directly envisioning his chest recovering and expelling the metal. This sort of works, the aura causing his body to grow the cells back thereby pushing the metal out, but unfortunately that didn't remove the metal from him, just give him functional abdomen beneath the none-functioning metal-flesh plackart.

Pissed off as hell and now able to move again, Mesan kicks Draga in the face with enough force to send him flying through the wall of a nearby sandstone building. The kick provides enough spare momentum to allow Mesan to pull himself into a crouching position. Mesan lifts up an arm, something that looks like a high-tech chainsaw appearing in his hand. Without pressing a button, the device turns itself on. It's edge glowing, the saw is sent down to cut the armor and useless tissue from Mesan's body.

 _Huh. Whatever he did, I actually do feel better. Still a bag of dicks._

Draga wearily gets up from the rubble of the building he was sent into. While he appeared fine, his HP was actually rather low. Repeated injury had led to an unfortunate break in his defenses.

Quickly checking the two notifications that appeared, Draga learns that he leveled his **Physical Endurance** once, and he also gained a new skill from healing Mesan.

 **Aura Rejuvenation (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **By sending aura into another with the intention of healing them the user has learned a way to partially return a living thing to its natural state.**

 **Heals the affected unit for 1% of the mana expended.**

 **Only functions on living things that have an aura.**

 **Cannot be used on self.**

A quick glance at his MP bar showed it to be full, so he couldn't actually gauge how much he spent on his cast of it. As such, he still didn't know how effective the ability would be on others. The part about not being able to use it on himself kinda blew, but until it passed level 80 he would just stick to **Scales**.

It was around this time Trevor decided to actually show himself. Because he hadn't actually witnessed the events, and only could sense their contact with the ground, Trevor thought Mesan had been knocked down by Draga, Draga tried doing something to the unmoving body, and then Mesan attacked him with a surprised kick.

Oh how wrong he was.

Rising from the ground as if it was reverse quicksand, Trevor stands a few feet beside Draga. His eyes locked on Mesan's intact visor, Trevor speaks in an obviously aggressive tone.

"What do you want, Mesan?"

...

...

...

Mesan deadpans. Even through his visor, the expression somehow becomes obvious to the pair before him.

"Spirit is dead."

It was Draga that broke the slightly awkward tension between them, each of them turning to face the redhead.

"Mesan killed her. It was all part of a plan he came up with upon meeting her."

 **Achievement unlocked: Bullshit King**

 **Lie your ass off while someone within hearing range knows that you're lying, and then get away with it.**

 **Reward: 1 character point.**

 _There are achievements now? Well, I guess I just haven't gotten one yet._

"Is that so... Well, you should have told us about that before you had the group attack Akilahara. They're out there right now, having chased me into the wasteland."

Mesan reaches over and messes with something on his wrist. Looking at it, it is vaguely similar to those rectangular devices Sora and Shiro brought with them into Disboard. Mesan turns back towards Trevor.

"They are now coming here. As leader, I officially request a union with Akilahara."

Trevor nods, an agreement going off. _Not really any choice... Their technology surpasses our technique._

"So, Mesan, what happened to your chest? I assume by what Draga says, he didn't attack you."

Draga raises a hand to interrupt Mesan's attempt to speak.

"Yeah, I kinda went skydiving and, well, I didn't know he was there."

Trevor pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out an irritated sigh.

"Whatever you say man. I'm gonna leave this place alone for a while. See you in a couple days."

Trevor walks off, not exactly casual, but as close as you can get while stressed to the point of exhaustion. Mesan and Draga watch him go off for a bit before he turns around a building and leaves their site.

"Mesan, you wouldn't happen to be able to give me an awesome sword Spirit promised me, would you?"

Despite knowing exactly where he was going with this, Mesan replies for the sake of formalities.

"Yes I can."

Forming in his hand, in the same way Draga witnessed his armor disappear, is a massive longsword. The blade itself is rather long, consisting of two different blade pieces which both end in a point with an 1/2 foot wide split in between. Edges on the outside of both blades, it was clear the weapon could cleave or impale quite effectively. The grip was three feet on its own, the blades being slightly over six. In terms of width, at the base of the blades it reached over two feet and the cross-guard going an additional foot in each direction. The design looked very sleek and lacked decoration excluding the counterbalance which was an elaborate puzzle sphere.

Sending power into the blade from the handle, the gap in the blade becomes alight with electricity.

"I'm sure I can come up with some way to generate power. A gauntlet perhaps."

Mesan throws the sword over, the weight being nothing for his mech-suit.

Draga catches it just as easily, displaying just how powerful his **Str** was after bonuses. The weapon weighed easily over 100 pounds, and with an experimental swing Draga learns just how easy it is to manipulate at this point.

"Impressive. There are some features in there is can do with power besides just light up, but I don't think-"

Draga had sent electricity from his palm into the handle, the same effect Mesan caused occurring between the blades.

"HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT!?"

Until this point, Mesan had never actually seen Draga use any abilities. He'd seen Chi use his skills, and based on Draga's physical abilities (speed specifically), Mesan had guessed him to be a fighter.

Mages are often far more broken though.

"Just a little electrical pump in my hand."

Mesan mentally facepalms. _Even I wasn't that bad a liar when I was a kid._

"Really now."

"Yeah. Check this out."

Draga holds up his spare hand, pointing it towards the sky. He internally says the command for **Pale Lightning** before it blasts into the sky. Mesan reacts as one would expect him to.

"DUDE! That's to cool! You can create electricity?"

"Yeah. You mentioned secondary features?"

"Right, right. I'll tell you if you do a quick task for me afterward."

Draga raises an eyebrow.

"Well, c'mon then. I'm not gonna agree to do something I don't know."

"Fair enough. What I really need is a power source. My suits do collect solar energy, but that was more intended to supplement the other generator's and energy storage systems. You know, make 'em last longer."

"So you want me to charge your suits?"

"Yeah."

Taking Draga's nod as an acceptance of the arrangement, Mesan goes into details about the weapon.

"This weapon is called the Lunar Assault Blade, a name that wouldn't make sense without powerful ranged weaponry. While it seems decorative, there's a little nub of steel in the handle. Pressing on that will create a ball of plasma within the blade, the shape of which will cause it to propel itself out. Alternatively, swinging the sword while the ball is still inside will create a moving slash of the stuff that moves based on how fast you swung the blade. Unfortunately, doing the swing really fast as I'm sure you probably can, might cause the plasma to explode."

Draga nods along, storing the information for later use. The details of the ranged potential were kinda disheartening. Anything he couldn't just slash up close would be more than fast enough to dodge the projectiles.

It was around this time that Mesan's group finally arrived.

"You called us. Is the squirt giving us problems?"

The one to speak was the still over-leveled Alistar. Unlike last time they'd met, Alistar's helmet was removed to reveal the chiseled face of a 40-something year old black man. _I couldn't **Observe** him through the suit last time, but now..._

 **Alistar**

 **A man from humble beginnings. After spending most of the war in the background, running supplies despite his immense strength, Alistar abandoned the World War Union in favor of joining Mesan.**

 **Race: Girimasu**

 _Huh. That's an ethnicity I've never heard of._ _Different world, different words, I guess._ Putting that aside, it was nice to know that with Mesan by his side, Alistar would be too. Unfortunately for Draga, the other three still had their helmets on. Their nameplates were all the same as before too, not even a level gained. _They are fairly high level, to be fair._

"No. Spirit is dead, and we will be joining Akilahara. I already got Trevor's consent."

There's a slight murmur as the three behind Alistar talk amongst themselves about it, but Alistar only reacts with a genuine smile. A moment passes, allowing the three still hidden inside their suits to come to a conclusion: joining Akilahara would be the best course of action. Giving Mesan a nod, they walk off to set themselves up in one of the many many spare houses.

Alistar stays behind, an eyebrow raised when he properly examines Draga.

"You gave him your sword?"

"I can always make another."

As he says that, an identical sword pulls itself into reality in his hand. Draga finally gets his turn to look completely dumbfounded.

"What."

It's not even a question at this point. Reality just doesn't work like that.

Mesan chuckles at Draga's reaction.

"My power is a fairly strange one. Basically, I can store none-organic materials in the Aether. While it's there I have complete control over it, allowing me to manipulate it to the point of perfection and craft my many marvels. I can then take them out of the Aether or put them back in with ease. This sword actually has a very simple list of components, but it couldn't be invented without my power because technology hasn't advanced far enough for molecular printing. My-"

Draga cuts him off.

"Alright, I get it. You're a super cool inventor with a power central to your job."

Mesan pouts.

"Man, I never get to have any fun."

Draga grows a wide mischievous smirk.

"If you want to have some fun, the Hokori have a giant glowing red target on their heads."

A light appears in Mesan's visor. How, I cannot explain. Without replying, Mesan shoots off into the sky, a trail of smoke appearing behind him.

Draga sighs. _I can't fly, you know._ Turns out, Mesan had that covered. Both Mesan and Draga glow a vibrant blue, the signal of Mesan's power at work. Appearing around Draga was a model suit he'd given to the others, and he was fixing his own of course. Can't have damaged armor on a hunt after all.

Draga briefly checks out the suit with his **Inventory** before he heads out with Mesan to the wasteland.

 **I will put the armor statistics and stuff in the character page below. Same as before, I won't put the actual effects of the armor in his stats as he won't always be using it. Same goes for things like Lightning Shell and Lightning Aura.**

 **Also, I am gonna do my Author's Note here for a very specific reason of which I won't be telling you here.**

 **First off, excluding conversation which I am shit at (I need someone to help me make it more natural, I really do) every sentence has a direct and powerful meaning. Every single one. Any inconsistency, and loose plot thread, all planned. This story is gonna take forever, but it's going places.**

 **Secondly, people still aren't reviewing. I currently have two reviews, I need more feedback than that you guys. One of them isn't even relevant.**

 **Lastly, I have personally pledged myself to advertise this wonderful site I've found. I don't know about rules for posting, so if for whatever reason I can't post the link for you to check it out, tell me and I'll put it elsewhere. Assuming there isn't a problem, since I didn't find one, here it is.**

 **See, simple and easy to use without ctrl+c/ctrl+v.**

A few hours later.

The hunt has been rather profitable. On top of gathering a ton of money, none of it actually being useful since the apocalypse, and another two levels, Draga has gained a bunch of misc crafting materials and equipment. While the Hokori chest-plates and the like were completely ignored because of the power armor he was now wearing, the accessory slots were mostly still open.

 **Also down below.**

The real kicker of the event was the leveling of skills. Keeping all of his buffs active, he'd also been using **Phantom Visions** for as long as was possible over and over again. Since they worked on Hokori it was also good for hunting, but with the way it leveled... Mmmm. After less than 2 hours of total use it was already level 32, meaning it was the fastest leveling ability he'd ever acquired. _It probably scaled with mana cost._ Some secondary skills, mostly **Detect Bloodthirst** leveled up as well.

Unfortunately, no Hokori they fought dropped skills. Since most of them didn't breach level 20, and most were labeled T1 next to their heads, it could be assumed they were just mooks. Mooks never dropped anything too absurdly useful, although there was one really nice mask one of the T2's dropped.

 _You know, I really need to **Observe** one of these things, might get some info on what they are._

 **Pansa [Deceased]**

 **Created by Fushai, the Pansa are like an adapted form of cats. Their claws can reach upwards of five inches and are permanently razor sharp. When injured, the Pansa can heal themselves by sleeping.**

 **Race: Pansa**

Huh... That's an ethnicity among Hokori? No, that doesn't make sense. Mesan had taken off his visor for the break, giving Draga the opening he needed to use **Observe** to check something.

 **Mesan**

 **A world famous engineer before the Hokori invasion, Mesan now spends his time looking for something to do. With his unique ability, he's gathered a group of people to live with.**

 **Race: Human**

 _SON OF A-_

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Villain Monologue**

 **Level: LV24**

 **HP: 5164**

 **MP: 26976**

 **Str: 19(60.249)**

 **Vit: 51(103.275)**

 **Dex: 104(291.152)**

 **Int: 50(152.888)**

 **Wis: 50(152.888)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 29**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL12 EXP 83.95% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 12**

 **Current total affinity: 23.54**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 46.24% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL6 EXP: 46.09% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:6%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Language (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.76% MP:300, 300 per minute**

 **The user has started on the incredibly arduous journey of learning a new language, and as such has the ability to learn such.**

 **Occasionally grants knowledge of words when hearing them.**

 **Current chance: .8%**

 **Actively allows memorization of words and multiplies the above odds by 10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL7 EXP: 4.20% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 7%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 21 or 3.5%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL32 EXP:72.93% MP:5520, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Off-Hand:** **Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Kerrigan Visor - +10 DR (+20 while powered) and grants [Night Vision]+[Heat Vision (Sight, not attack)] while Powered**

 **Chest:** **Kerrigan Guard - +50 DR (+250 while powered) and -2 Dex (+2 while powered).**

 **Legs:** **Kerrigan Greaves - +50 DR (+200 while powered) and -1 Dex (+3 while powered).**

 **Feet:** **Kerrigan Boots - +20 DR (+40 while powered), + 0 STR (+6 while powered), and -1 Dex (+1 while powered).**

 **Wrists: Kerrigan Gauntlets - +20 DR (+40 while powered), + 0 STR (+6 while powered), and -1 Dex (+1 while powered).**

 **Hands: None**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2:** **Sutra - A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Back: Kerrigan Guard cont. - +50 DR (+250 while powered) and -2 Dex (+2 while powered).**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Kerrigan Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **Creates a sealed environment, preventing airborne toxins and bio-hazards from entering the suit.**


	15. Environment-7

Draga literally causes an explosion when he facepalms, his hand moving fast enough to ignite the air upon impact. This blows him back, throwing himself a good twenty feet back before his legs hit the ground in a braced position and comes sliding to a stop. Having seen him survive without a scratch from a blast of his weapons, even if it was through Spirit's body, Mesan shows fairly little concern for the newly armored man. Rather than concern, he displays only curiosity.

"What happened?"

Draga visor pulls itself away from his face, retreating elsewhere into the helmet, allowing him to pinch his nose in irritated thought.

"What is a Girimasu?"

Mesan's expression changes from mild curiosity instantly to strong suspicion. _How would he know the term Girimasu? He's had no knowledge of the Hokori before..._

"A Girimasu is a type of Hokori that looks like a human. What are you getting at?"

And the pieces of that particular puzzle comes together. _Why was his level too high for him to see? Why did his BIO have no information from before the war besides 'Humble beginnings'? Why was his race listed as Girimasu? Hell, it even covered why he didn't have a title. Fuck am I stupid for some with over 13 times the average persons intelligence._

"We have a problem. I can't explain now how I know this, but Alistar is a Girimasu."

Mesan narrows his eyes at Draga. _I suppose it is possible... Girimasu are brought into the world fully believing they are humans, it helps them with infiltrating our populace. The problem is, if he is one, that means nobody noticed. How could Draga have?_

"I'm gonna need a little more proof than that."

Draga lets out an irritated sigh.

"Alright, fine. Leave the questions until after we've dealt with the problem. **Party. Invite Mesan.** "

Both of the last phrases were meant as experiments, but by the popping up of boxes it was confirmed that it was at least one of the ways to conduct what he wanted.

Of course, he would cherish the reaction on Mesan's face when a thing literally pops into existence in front of him, in this case the invitation dialogue box.

"AH!"

Mesan falls backwards, the pop-up following his movement to remain in his field of vision. _What the hell is that!_

A few moments pass, giving Mesan ample time to recover at least some of his shredded dignity and of course read the message. Tentatively reaching forward to hit the **Y** button, Mesan accepts Draga's invitation.

As Mesan looks towards Draga for some help understanding what was happening, he see's what looks like a swarm of those boxes moving in slow circles around him.

All the boxes were semi-transparent, so Draga was still able to see with them, and he directly moved them so they didn't block line of site with most things either. He left every **Observe** , every **Tutorial** box, and every relevant item description open. Unfortunately, the text was always facing Draga, meaning Mesan couldn't read it from where he was.

Draga walks directly next to Mesan, who had just now stood up from he previous reintroduction to the earth, and points to a specific text box: the one from Alistar's **Observe**.

Mesan backs up, a almost but not quite deadpan on his face.

"Huh."

That was all he said before he started walking off, not in any particular direction. It would be a few seconds before Draga bothers to stop him. Jogging to catch up, Draga puts a hand on his shoulder.

"So, we gonna go stop him now?"

Mesan lets out an incredibly long sigh, lasting over 15 seconds.

"Alright, let's go. I said I wouldn't ask questions until later, but you owe me a full explanation."

They set off at full speed, easily surpassing the sound barrier, as they sprint to Akilahara. Stopping just at the cliffside, a sonic boom alerts the entire area of their presence.

"Well, there goes any stealth option, not like it'd work since he has one of these."

Draga points to the visor as he's saying this. Mesan was a little paranoid when he was actually inventing new stuff, his helmet being a perfect representation of this. Whenever a sound above 0.1 decibels is registered, it figures out what it is, and if it isn't background noise it notifies the user. Draga didn't know the specific, but he knew he'd gotten around 20 signals of Mesan breathing already.

"Eh, the speed we got here means he should still be in Akilahara. Overall, I'd say that's worth it."

Draga opens his map, scanning it briefly and finding four blue dots clustered in a slightly eastward segment of the farmland. Unfortunately, that area was mostly covered in crops like Corn which grow too tall to see through.

"Why didn't you give this thing X-Ray vision?"

"X-Ray vision would make you blind. X-Ray's are very rare in nature, and the concept itself is ridiculous. No technology on Earth would allow that kind of perception."

Draga sighs, conceding the point.

"Well, Alistar and the others are down there. Since the other three haven't taken off their helmets, I can't confirm whether any of the are Girimasu as well."

His face stuck in a sort of smile-frown at the thought of the fight to come, Mesan leaps off the cliffside without replying. Despite having had a standing start, he soars through the air before shooting down in a controlled fall. Landing on his feet, Mesan's impact creates a crater in the ground and flattens the corn around him.

Far less dramatically, Draga lands next to him without a sound.

A few seconds pass before Alistar and the others arrive to check out the sound.

"Why'd you fall from the sky?"

"Alistar, I know what you are."

Mesan completely expected Alistar to make some facetious comment or joke about it, but instead his previously cheery smile just vanishes. He doesn't speak, merely staring at the engineer.

Portisha breaks the silence.

"What do you mean?"

Mesan gestures towards Alistar, implying that he should answer. Reluctantly, his hand has been forced.

"Congratulations on finding it out a mere week after I became one."

Alistar's armor vanishes through Mesan's ability, Mesan not wanting his enemy to give his enemies a power boost. The man looked as one would expect, like a bulky black man. The strangest thing you could really say about him was that despite being naked the man didn't have any genitals. Oddly enough, he still had nipples, whatever the hell they were meant for.

Just as quickly as the group got to see the man without his armor, a new kind of armor starts taking over. Molding itself over his skin and apparently coming out of his pores, a mass of thick white... What is it? It's not quite bone, but it's close to it. Not cartilage either, despite its flexibility, and certainly tougher than both... Ah, whatever. It seals over his body in the span of a second. Despite being able to react in that time, Draga doesn't do anything. It's five against one, and he could use the EXP.

The other three 'lords' step around Alistar, keeping a minimum of five feet from him, and walk up to join Mesan and Draga from the backline. Being the better equipped ones, Mesan and Draga step forward, obviously moving to the sides to flank Alistar.

Alistar puts his hands behind his back and looks on as if they weren't important. _Something's not-._

Pain rushes through both Draga and Mesan's bodies as swords pop out their chests.

The sword being torn from his back, Mesan falls to the ground. His suit attempts to fix the damage, but the man stabs him again.

Draga was having it a bit easier. The person was having trouble taking the blade out of him because his body healed around the blade, sealing it in. All in all, he'd only dropped around 2000 HP from being impaled. Rather generous. Taking advantage of Unis's position, Draga pulls his sword from his inventory directly into a slash which tears the woman in half.

 _Well, this went from 5v1 to 1v3. Not unexpected, what with my still fairly low luck stat, but definitely a problem._

With Unis's death, Draga gained another level. He ignored the notification, though, as Portisha lunges towards him with a sword swing. Draga triggers his variety of buffs before ducking beneath, being given plenty of time to perceive the attack even if her speed was enough to make dodging a bit hard.

From his position slightly to the side of Portisha, he gets a proper view of the last thing he wanted happening in this fight.

Mesan had already been knocked out from the shock of the sword coming out the first time. This had repeated once in the second or two Draga was distracted. Now within vision, the sword began its third strike, and the killing blow to the neck.

Mesan's title flitters for a moment, determining whether it was supposed to be on or off, before settling on off forever.

Now, Draga hadn't known Mesan for very long, but through a few games they played while screwing around with Pansa and the like, and their actually similar tastes in food, music, even games, they'd bonded. It had been the first real bond Draga had acquired since he became The Gamer.

The Gamer might keep him calm and calculating, but he can still feel emotions. The power of his emotions being enhanced by the 'Lord of Emotion' was probably the tipping point for him.

His typical deadpan doesn't change through movement, but the person he was glaring at could feel the intensity of his rage at that moment.

Thunder sounds out from the previously clear sky as thick dark clouds spiral out from directly above Draga. Lightning repeatedly arcs from his body, shooting into the sky and fueling the storm's energy. Lightning zips around the clouds above, thunder rumbling repeatedly towards the ground below in a way that seems reminiscent of the Old Deus's rage.

Alistar turns to confront Draga, his newly formed mask obscuring any emotions that would pass over his face. He charges forward, somehow reaching a speed Draga could barely perceive.

Draga gets blown back, the impact of Alistar's head crashing into his abdomen sending him flying. He flips over in the air, tumbling over himself, until he manages to get a hand on the ground. Using his contact with the ground to sort of balance him, Draga enters a three point slide for the next twenty feet of his movement. Finally stopping, Draga gets a good view of him being head-butted again.

Rather than go flying, Draga triggers **Electrical Silhouette** and moves high into the sky. Falling for around 6 seconds, Draga is repeatedly struck by lightning again. Notifications pile up, but since his HP doesn't go below 1/2 he ignores it. Despite Alistar's movement speed, it seems he's limited somehow because he's still hit by Draga's dive-bomb.

Plowing Alistar into the ground, Draga loses another 1/4 of his HP, but so does Alistar. Quickly triggering **Electrical Silhouette** to make an escape, Draga appears a good fifty feet from everyone else. He triggers his buffs again, keeping them active. _Lightning, completely forgot about being hit by lightning._

The storm above continues to rumble and grow, slowly darkening the afternoon sky.

The two living armored individuals make their first pass at Draga, charging at speeds comparable to his own while swinging their swords. Taking his time to dodge their attacks, Draga doesn't notice Alistar's body literally vanish from sight and reappear behind him, the Girimasu now actually moving faster than he can perceive.

The attack knocks him forward this time, blowing him past both of Alistar's armored allies. While he couldn't react to the attack, he could react to the effects of it. Just before he actually shoots off into the distance, Draga throws his hand forward to clothesline Portisha.

Her armor, still on her since Mesan didn't send it to the Aether before his dead, prevents her from taking any significant damage from the attack, but it does bring her with him on Draga's flight. While Draga's midair, Coalis, the 'Lord of Health', pulls a rifle-like weapon from his back and takes aim, rapidly firing off three rounds.

The projectiles seem to be a blue energy blast, something that reveals itself to be true when it hits Draga and zaps him, to minimal effect. _I don't remember getting my affinity high enough to be... **Electrical Shell** , duh. Immunity to electricity. If I took some damage, it means it's not just electricity. Guess I need to keep my buffs up the whole time._

Draga re-draws his fancy new sword with his free hand while moving his other to get a proper grip on Portisha's neck. He swings the sword around, crossing it over the neck where armor was thinner than normal, severing the spine with the overly-sharp blade. This grants Draga yet another level, but once again he ignores the notification in favor of focusing on the battle. _Not like I can get anything really important up a multiple of fifty._

Draga slams the corpse of Portisha into the ground, his rage gradually subsiding now that it wasn't being artificially fueled. Coalis keeps firing, the shots doing just enough damage to prevent him from healing through HP regen. Instead, Draga heals up to 3/4 HP with **Scales** , and dashes to attack him. Alistar intercepts, actually doing an attack besides a headbutt for the first time. He slams his fist into Draga's sternum, an attack that would normally be a knockout blow, and sends Draga flying again.

 _So he doesn't want Coalis to die, actually defending him. Good to know. How to actually hit him though..._ He and Alistar stand off for a moment, Coalis ceasing fire in a regrettable decision, thinking his attacked has no impact. Draga finally thinks of a plan to use the storm clouds above and electrocute everyone here, he being the only one who completely ignores electricity.

Draga triggers **Electrical Silhouette** , the lightning form giving him the speed needed to pass Alistar and end up behind Coalis. When he materializes, Alistar is already in the process of turning to attack him and Coalis in ducking forward.

Lightning doesn't care.

Draga casts **Pale Lightning** , an ability he's left alone for a long time now, towards the sky. The path of ionized air molecules creates an easy pathway for the lightning to pass through, only further enhanced by Draga's attempts to call it down with mana through his affinity.

These combined effects result in all the electrical potential of the storm coming down in a single lightning bolt, hitting Draga, and then passing to the others through the air. Despite a huge amount of the energy being wasted on Draga, enough is present to fry Coalis's suit and electrocute him, unfortunately only knocking him out, and to scorch a large portion of Alistar's coating.

Seemingly unfazed by the attack, Alistar rams into Draga anyway. Unlike previous times, attempting to knock him back, Alistar zips forward grabbing Draga by the ankle, and proceeds to beat the him into the ground repeatedly. Ending on a powerful slam into the ground, nearly doubling the already existing crater, Alistar finally lets go of Draga.

While this was going on, even through the excruciating pain, Draga was in thought. _It was slight, but I saw his HP bar move. He can be damaged. Sure. he regen'd it in the half second I could still see it, but that means the fight is at least possible._

Draga was current sitting on exactly 200 HP, having been swapping mana to HP during the assault in order to survive, but finding mana to be more important as a resource. _Lets see, I have 43 points. If I level up one more time, I'll have fifty and be able to get either Wis or Int skills... Hmmm..._

He's interrupted from his thoughts by Alistar speaking. Just based on his HP, the game system probably was using his title again. _I never thought it would save my life so many times._

"What do you hope to accomplish here? The Hokori will win, nothing you can do about it. If you join us through the Girimasu or Lord Fushai you won't be slain."

 _Why would joining the Hokori require the Girimasu?_ Draga uses **Observe** on the corpse of Portisha, specifically the parts that aren't armored.

 **Portisha**

 **A long time fashion designer, and unfortunately later demoted to retail management, Portisha has spent a long time helping Mesan with the aesthetic of his inventions. This carried over into the apocalypse.**

 **Race: Girimasu**

Draga deadpans. _Of course they would have a way to corrupt people, although I can't jump to conclusions._

"So, based on that and what you said before, you were human, yes?"

"And was it Lord Fushai that made you a Girimasu?"

"False. Girimasu create other Girimasu. Lord Fushai can only be bothered with making new breeds."

"And what would becoming one of you entail?"

"We corrupt your body, turning you into a new species through your DNA while you retain your appearance. I don't know the specifics, but that's the gist of it."

Draga stands up, walking slowly towards him in surrender.

"Alright."

Alistar reaches out to touch Draga's head, moving at roughly the same pace.

Alistar may be fast, but his nerves didn't respond instantly.

Draga's arms shoot up, grabbing the wrist of his enemy, and he throws his legs forward with his arms as a balance point. His legs impact Alistar's chest before he can stop it, slamming him back and causing him to tumble.

Pulling back on his arm while pushing his weight forward, Draga knocks him down completely. From a roughly standing position, Draga tries to tear off Alistar's limb.

To both of their surprise, the ripping of the limb works. The arm goes flying as Draga loses his balance and falls backwards. Luckily, because he isn't being pushed down by another person, he's able to spin around his vertical axis and land in a safety roll to his feet.

This leaves him open, however, as Alistar is now behind him.

Even with the pain screaming through his body, Alistar reacts in a calculated manor. He does a 'Jackie Chan' and kicks himself to his feet, using the excess momentum to tackle Draga.

The tackles works, dragging Draga towards the ground, but just before contact he pops **Electrical Silhouette** and slips away, appearing above Coalis with a slightly sadistic twinge to his smirk.

"Level up and move along in hopes that the next stage I will clear."

Draga tears his blade from his inventory, moving it directly into his targets head, killing him instantly.

Unfortunately, the notification he was expecting doesn't appear. _%*#*%*( &!(*%*(! (*(&* (!%!_

A certain armored man was rather unhappy at his arm being torn off and his allies killed. Alistar had by this time stood up and turned to face Draga.

"No mercy."

He vanishes from his location in a burst of speed, appearing with his hand on Draga's skull. Draga quickly escapes with **Electrical Silhouette** , but the attack was done.

Or at least Alistar thought. Appearing within Draga's vision were a total of five pop-ups, my god.

 **The status effect [Hokori Mind] has been prevented by Gamer's Mind.**

 **The status effect [Hive Mind] has been prevented by Gamer's Mind.**

 **The status effect [Suggestion] has been prevented by Gamer's Mind.**

 **Girimasu (Low)**

 **The affected unit has become at least partially transformed into a Girimasu.**

 **40% penalty to reactions of people aware of your condition.**

 **The skill [Hokori Shell] is usable with a 2% mana efficiency.**

 **Hokori Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can create armor to surround their body in the same way Hokori do. The strange foreign material has magic within it but doesn't have supernatural properties beyond toughness.**

 **Creates armor from your pore at a thickness of 1 nano-meter per MP. Can be made up to 2x as tough by using up to 10x mana.**

 _Wow... That skill is completely useless at my level of corruption/MP. 54 nanometers thick, a strand of DNA being 2.5, and double durability or 540 nanometers, still a 16th of the thickness of hair, and normal durability. Either way, seems pretty much pointless._

Draga then remembers a skill he hadn't used in ages: **Virulent Scourge**. He quickly dumps a few thousand mana into it, leveling it up several times, and literally maxes out Girimasu. Unfortunately, it does have a side effect besides charisma.

 **Girimasu (MAX)**

 **The affected unit has become completely transformed into a Girimasu.**

 **100% penalty to reactions of people aware of your condition.**

 **The skill [Hokori Shell] is usable with a 100% mana efficiency.**

 **The afflicted person can corrupt others in the same way he/she was.**

 **If the affected unit is a Gamer, their title is automatically changed to Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Hokori-Girimasu**

 **The bearer of this title can revert status effects on themselves to 0% strength, including Girimasu, but cannot purge them entirely. Rather, they will remain dormant.**

 **100% advantage to reactions with other Girimasu.**

 **Affected unit's race is officially Girimasu. This is the case for all effects and intentions.**

 _Better, but it's a shame I can't have my preferred title._

Draga's body emits the material Alistar had before, and what seemed to just naturally coat the rest of the Hokori. This time, by expending all of his mana Draga creates a suit slightly thicker than 3 hairs. Very thing, but it would only grow as his mana regenerated.

 _I'm gonna need that last level before I do anything. I need to go on a hunt, I guess._

Draga turns directly away from Alistar, and breaks into a sprint. Despite the obvious weight of his armor, which continued to grow, he wasn't feeling any slower than normal. _I'll have to test it later._

Alistar was of course faster than Draga, but his attacks were significantly less effective at this point because Draga was already moving in the direction they were coming from, decreasing the effective force immensely.

Alistar wises up, dashing around Draga and beating him continuously despite Draga's best efforts to dodge.

His health gradually depleting alongside his mana, Draga keeps going until he see's some wandering Pansa. Quickly taking fire with **Pale Lightning** while still running, Draga dispatches of them, finally getting that last needed level.

"Goodbye."

Draga triggers **Electrical Silhouette** to fly into the sky, as he had once done when he went skydiving. Opening his status menu, Draga dumps his points into **Int**.

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 100 minutes.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 1000 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 _Perfect._ Draga waits for his MP and HP to max out before zipping down to the ground again.

Alistar reacts instantly, lunging towards Draga with an outstretched arm to grip his neck.

Unfortunately for him, Draga had a new toy to play with.

Draga triples his effective time, slowing Alistar's movements to what would be normal if not for the shockwaves visible moving the ground beneath him. Draga swings his arm, smacking away the attempted grab and failing to grab Alistar's wrist. Despite the setback, Draga uses his spare arm to grab Alistar's shoulder and pull him both down and forward.

Alistar tumbles forward, flipping over himself without actually falling downward, the sheer speed he achieved before tripping being enough for him to land properly before gravity actually pulls him down.

 _That was rather anticlimactic..._

Alistar whirls around, an outreached arm swinging towards Draga's face. Draga raises his arms to defend himself, but this turns out to be a mistake as he's sent flying anyway, a healthy 1200 HP drop from it.

Draga's move did accomplish one thing: it stopped him from spinning uncontrollably on his unexpected venture into the sky.

 _More power it is._

When Draga lands, he sprints towards Alistar. Once only a few meters away from his enemy, who was also charging, Draga drops a full 20k mana on **Acceleration** bringing his total time to 7x what it was when on even ground with Alistar a moment ago.

In his literal slow motion, Draga tears his sword from his inventory and swings it towards his remaining arm's shoulder.

Alistar was able to move still, if at a seemingly reduced speed, changing the impact zone to his upper arm, but the strike still cuts through the armor plating and the flesh beneath it.

With his arm incapacitated, Alistar brushes straight past Draga and sprints away. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't fast enough with Draga's time alteration.

Draga lunges forward with his two pronged blade, the points crumbling the armor beneath their actual speed rather than perceived speed. The weapon impales Alistar, the ends coming out the other side as the large metal shaft leaves a pair of unstitchable holes in the mans torso.

 _Doesn't look like he has a healing factor... Being a Girimasu didn't give me one, so I guess that makes sense._

Draga uses his weapon as a lever to push Alistar to the floor. He then places a foot on his back before tearing his gunblade out.

"Looks like this is the end. I'm sorry there wasn't another way."

Despite being on death row, Alistar doesn't struggle against Draga as he impales the blade into his skull, dying honorably in combat.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **By defeating a Girimasu the system function 'Character Editor' has unlocked!**

 **By defeating a boss Hokori the title [Hokori Slayer] has unlocked!**

 **Hokori Slayer**

 **50% increased damage to Hokori.**

 **20% reduced damage received from Hokori.**

 **5% lifesteal against Hokori.**

 **Hello everybody, that's the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoyed up to this point. A few Easter eggs were put in for those who read lots of Gamer fics.**

 **I am not the best at writing out combat. It would be super easy in a visual medium because I envision the fights in a sort of cell-shaded 3-D art style prior to actually writing about them. While that helps, a thought-video system would be so dope. If you have any tips for improving my writing, please PM me or review. I'd appreciate the support.**

 **Soon we will be diving into the big bads. Girimasu aren't even T3, and while I won't spoil any details, there is a fourth tier that hasn't been discussed yet.**

 **It also appears some skills haven't been put down there, like the stack of Magic Mastery he got when Int his 50. I will be fixing all of that for next chapter just to guarantee it's correctness.**

 **Loot and stuff will be covered in the next chapter, don't worry about it.**

 **This is Terakali signing out. Peace.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LV30**

 **HP: 5164**

 **MP: 40464**

 **Str: 19(60.249)**

 **Vit: 51(103.275)**

 **Dex: 104(291.152)**

 **Int: 50(152.888)**

 **Wis: 50(152.888)**

 **Luk: 20(27)**

 **Points: 21**

 **Height: 5'4''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98 seconds.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL12 EXP 83.95% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 12**

 **Current total affinity: 23.54**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 46.24% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:8%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Language (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.76% MP:300, 300 per minute**

 **The user has started on the incredibly arduous journey of learning a new language, and as such has the ability to learn such.**

 **Occasionally grants knowledge of words when hearing them.**

 **Current chance: .8%**

 **Actively allows memorization of words and multiplies the above odds by 10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL7 EXP: 4.20% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 7%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 21 or 3.5%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL32 EXP:72.93% MP:5520, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 100 minutes.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL21 EXP: 14.00% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 900 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Girimasu (MAX)**

 **The affected unit has become completely transformed into a Girimasu.**

 **100% penalty to reactions of people aware of your condition.**

 **The skill [Hokori Shell] is usable with a 100% mana efficiency.**

 **The afflicted person can corrupt others in the same way he/she was.**

 **If the affected unit is a Gamer, their title is automatically changed to Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Off-Hand:** **Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Kerrigan Visor - +10 DR (+20 while powered) and grants [Night Vision]+[Heat Vision (Sight, not attack)] while Powered**

 **Chest:** **Kerrigan Guard - +50 DR (+250 while powered) and -2 Dex (+2 while powered).**

 **Legs:** **Kerrigan Greaves - +50 DR (+200 while powered) and -1 Dex (+3 while powered).**

 **Feet:** **Kerrigan Boots - +20 DR (+40 while powered), + 0 STR (+6 while powered), and -1 Dex (+1 while powered).**

 **Wrists: Kerrigan Gauntlets - +20 DR (+40 while powered), + 0 STR (+6 while powered), and -1 Dex (+1 while powered).**

 **Hands: None**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2:** **Sutra - A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Back: Kerrigan Guard cont. - +50 DR (+250 while powered) and -2 Dex (+2 while powered).**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: None**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Kerrigan Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **Creates a sealed environment, preventing airborne toxins and bio-hazards from entering the suit.**


	16. Environment-8

**There is gonna be swearing in this chapter, but even if you are abhorred by it I sincerely reccomend not skipping this chapter. There are some important developments in here that you NEED to know to continue with the story.**

Draga looks down at Alistar's corpse with a look of irritation.

 _That was it? A sword to the skull? There's gotta be more entertaining enemies out there, and I will find them. For now, though, I have some loot._

Draga grabs what was left with Alistar, placing them directly into his **Inventory** until he gets to look at the other three's drops. Quickly picking up two skillbooks and two equipment items, Draga checks out his full loot set, automatically absorbing the books to get a full skill checkout.

 **Underarmor Chest: Tallow - Increases HP regen by 50%, increases max HP by 10%, and increases DR by 10%.**

 **Hands: Vasutra - +10DR and 100% increase to punching force.**

 **(2) Armband: Asiemad - Increases lifting capacity of worn arm by 100%.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .1% status.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.**

 **Imposes or removes emotional status effects on a target.**

 **Max status level: Low.**

 **This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Unlocks emotional state for Observe.**

 **Blind Fist Mastery (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage.**

 **Passively reduces sound and scent emitted by 50%.**

 **Actively increases effectiveness of all martial arts by 10%. Double effect if a Blind Fist attack.**

 **Actively increases Dex and Str by 5.**

 _Now, I'm not one to complain, but five people died for this. What kinda bullshit scam are you running here, Tet? Ugh... I need to blow off some steam._

Draga goes off to 'hunt' a large number of defenseless Hokori for a few hours, netting nothing of value.

 **Just as a note, I am not having potions. He already has enough broken abilities as it is without being able to restock his supplies on demand.**

Once Draga had finally let out all the literally repressed anger within him, he splayed out on the ground and just took a break from everything.

Looking up at the clear blue sky gave Draga a sense of homesickness. _I miss the games man. All I seem to do here is kill stuff and almost die. Where is the fun in that?_

As if on cue, an upside-down Tet blocks Draga's vision, having silently moved over him.

"Sup."

Draga inwardly facepalms, but outwardly smiles at the gregarious god.

"You can read my thoughts, can't you?"

"Only if they're about playing, but yeah. I hear you wanna have some fun."

Curious about what the previous God of Play would have in store, Draga raises an eyebrow but nods anyway.

"I'm gonna give you a quest. If you complete it within its time limit I'll send you to a dimension I'm positive you'll enjoy."

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Dragon's Quest**

 **Tet has assigned you the task of wiping out the Hokori.**

 **Find and dispatch of 95% of the total Hokori and the leader of them.**

 **Time limit: 3 months.**

 **Quest Rewards: New world, ?**

 **Quest Failure: Death, planet's destruction, humanity becomes extinct (Depending on severity of failure).**

Lacking a **Y/N** button, Draga already knew it was an active quest. Reading it to himself a few times, Draga thinks of a question to ask Tet, but when he turns around to face him the mischievous little bastard is gone.

 _Of course he would do that to me. Better get on it then. The Hokori aren't gonna kill themselves._ The thought of his task completing itself brought a return of his smile. _Wouldn't that be nice._

His thoughts are interrupted when a new bar appears on his GUI with a simple label of **H%**. Currently it sat at .2%. _All that hunting resulted in .2%. Just how many are there?_

The game literally just fucking with him at this point, the % replaces itself with a #/# setup, in this case 463/2231504. A moment later the second number decreases on its own by 1. _So something out there is killing Hokori, and it decreases the total when that happens. What about breeding? Do they do that?_

Carefully watching the number, Draga notes that the number does not go up at any rate that would imply breeding. The number increased a total of once in the 60 or so seconds he waited, but it increased by 6 at that instant. _Not a rate a species of that number would breed._

Draga rubs his temple for a minute, trying to think of the most effective way to kill 2 million enemies of variable power, size, and speed in just three months.

 _I need to kill around 1k per second. That is a stupid number, so I'm gonna need to get started immediately. I'll come up with a plan along the way._

Draga triggers **Electrical Silhouette** and a few levels of acceleration to effectively teleport to around the wasteland, killing enemies by telefragging them and pushing off. Unfortunately, this method burns through HP rather quickly, leaving Draga at around 1% after killing a mere 40 Pansa, and because time basically wasn't passing he wasn't regening HP.

 _What the hell is this quest, Tet? How do I-._

Draga cuts himself off in thought before face-flooring and creating a decently sized crater in the ground.

 _I can probably use lightning element spells like **Pale Lightning** while in electrical form. Why the hell haven't I thought of that?_

This attempt is far more fruitful, and before he ran out of mana a grand total of 1 seconds had passed and over 600 random T1 Hokori were newly roasted carcuses.

 _Okay, this seems way more reasonable now. If I can get Pale Lightning to a high enough level I should be able to keep that up indefinitely._

Speaking of getting **Pale Lightning** to a high enough level, his spamming had already leveled it 12 times. Each time it leveled the price went down, and with **Acceleration** paired with constant **Electrical Silhouette** his **Lightning** skill had gone up twice as well. _Oh yeah, affinity reduces costs too. Does that mean this crap will eventually be free, or just really cheap?_

During his thoughts, he'd deactivated his skills in order to regen his mana. Now at full, Draga repeats the process. With the prices reduced, and **Pale Lightning** 's level scaling increasing the number of bolts shot, Draga was able go to around 1300 before he had to regen again.

 _Still not enough. It takes a few seconds for my mana to top off, and **Acceleration** doesn't affect regen, so I'm stuck in terms of cost management. Besides, I haven't-._

The thought would finish with 'run into any more powerful Hokori' except he literally ran into a more powerful Hokori at that moment.

And I mean into.

Draga disables **Electrical Silhouette** the moment he hits the creature, an obvious attempt to deal some damage while also not getting further absorbed due to conductivity. This has the unwanted side effect of doccing more than half his HP instantly.

Backing away rapidly, Draga gets a good look above the humanoid-ish creatures head.

 **[LVL 26]**

 **Burradi**

 _Oh, well that doesn't look too-._

 **[LVL 27]**

 **Burradi**

 _But-._

 **[LVL 28]**

 **Burradi**

 _WHAT THE FUCK! It's gaining levels on the spot? If Hokori can do that there must be level 4000 out there for all I know! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KILL 95% OF THE THINGS!_

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Just Kidding**

 **You have been trolled by the one true god. Get rekt son.**

 **Kill the leader of the Hokori.**

 **Time limit: 3 months.**

 **Quest Rewards: New world, ?**

 **Quest Failure: Death, planet's destruction, humanity becomes extinct (Depending on severity of failure).**

Draga actually has a stroke right at that moment, the rage and stress he feels temporarily overpowering **Gamers Mind** and it's ability to calm him. Luckily the other ability Gamers naturally have prevents this from doing more than some damage.

Draga yells into the air, fully believing Tet can hear him despite what he'd previously said.

"FUCK YOU TET! Do this shit again and I will get back at you!"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Draga starts walking away from the doomsday machine behind him. Despite the EXP he could get from it at some point, he just couldn't be bothered. It seems to share the same notion, a chunk of its body having been effectively deleted by the telefragging.

 **Quick bit about telefragging. Gamers and people with Aura can survive the event because either Gamers Body repairs the injury automatically or Aura defends its natural state. In a contest, a creature with and a creature without aura the one with will always have the surviving body.**

Despite his fairly absurd speed and Draga's time being 5 times that of normal, it still took a long time to make it back to Akilahara. He left it going beyond the speed of light, a speed he only survived by being made of energy rather than matter. There was no way he could hope to match that with running, and even if he did each step would be an earthquake.

The trip was productive, though, because he gained another two levels of **Acceleration** , which would always be appreciated. When he arrives, Draga finds the nearest house with a bed, and conks out.

Sometimes those that don't have to sleep want to.

And sometimes those that are wake up in only six hours.

 _Ugh... Why am I up already? The sun's still down._

Glancing around, Draga notices a pop-up that appeared shortly before he actually awoke.

 **You are fully rested.**

 **100% increase to experience gain for 18 hours.**

 **MP and HP have been restored to maximum.**

 _That's bullshit. I am not fully rested. I feel like a br-._

All powerful but lazy ass that it is, **Gamer's Body** finally kicks in, purging Draga's lethargy. Sitting up at the sudden energy boost, Draga thinks about what he's gonna do for the day.

 _If I get 18 hours of doubles exp from sleeping, and I always sleep for six hours, it'd be better to sleep for farming. I have three months to locate and beat the guy, so I have time to train. That Burrida might not be high level right now, but it showed just how outclassed I might be by this guy. If this war has been going on for ages with that kind of leveling, he'd be at the level of a flugel at least. I got my work cut out for me._

With that in mind, Draga put on his armor, maxed out his **Acceleration** based on his current MP regen, and started sprinting circles around the town.

What seemed like DAYS of doing this later, Draga finally stopped for a break. He wasn't tired, but this activity was getting absurdly boring. Glancing at this sky, Draga noted that only around 12 hours had passed. Eating a loaf of slightly stale bread he nabbed from the kitchen building, Draga looks over the stat gains from the exercise.

 **Through rigorous exercise your Str has increased by one!**

 **Through rigorous exercise your Str has increased by one!**

 **Through rigorous exercise your Str has increased by one!**

 **Through rigorous exercise your Str has increased by one!**

 **Through rigorous exercise your Vit has increased by one!**

 _Huh... Not Dex. Does that mean I can't increase the actual base stat while **Electrical Silhouette** 's passive is on? That kinda sucks, but it makes sense. _

Not much was to be done in town, everyone he knew either being dead of on vacation, at least if his assertion that Trevor took Listeria with him was true.

 _More grind it is._ Draga continues what he was doing, losing track of time as his mind filters out the boredom of the activity. Unfortunately that was all there was, resulting in what felt like a time lapse.

Draga finally stops when a second **Vit** notification, having already gotten an additional 3 **Str** by this time. Still no **Dex** increase, which only confirmed Draga's percieved notion that he wouldn't be getting it up right now.

The profit was pretty good for a day of grinding, but his skills didn't level effectively. Besides, as Alistar proved, he'd need more than just electricity to beat opponents. His speed and powerful blade were great, but it was obvious that the Girimasu armor was not the best. Hell, everything he'd encountered but the Pansa had better armor.

 _I think it's about time to practice some physical skills and develop a fighting style._

Draga would spend the next hour thinking of how he would be optimized to fight. He had the **Blind Fist** martial art, so darkness was gonna be an obvious bit of importance. Using the darkness to his advantage, he'd want to either remain perfectly silent or kill the enemy as fast as possible. _Expensive but powerful._ Speed would be critical as well, but he had that covered for the most part with **Acceleration**. There's room for improvement, but only if he came across it naturally.

All of this in mind, Draga went about trying to create some new skills.

A half hour later, here was the result.

 **By using Phantom Visions to create darkness the skill [Gelap].**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100**

 **Darkness is the absence of light, so if you control light you also control darkness. Gelap is the power to control light in an area and specifically cause it to cease.**

 **Removes 1% of light in a cubic meter.**

 **Can be stacked in an area.**

 **Can have any number of simultaneous casts.**

 **Stampede (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00%% MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 100%.**

 **Increase charging force by 100%.**

 **Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The foot technique for fast movement in combat intended for an ancient martial arts style.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 5%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 20% when active.**

 **Claws of the Tiger (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The most basic technique of an ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **12% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100**

 **A technique central to an ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **40% increase to jumping distance.**

 **20% increase to movement speed.**

 **20% increase to attack damage.**

 **Applies to a single action.**

 _I feel like I'm missing something, like these aren't the true techniques. The information I got form unlocking them seems sloppy._ Not being able to piece anything together, Draga looks towards the last ability he acquired, and depending on its actual usage potentially the one with the most potential.

 **Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Changes your voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Up to 900% increase in volume for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 1% of current level.**

At its current level, the skill wouldn't do a whole lot, but it was the only crowd control ability he'd gotten with the exception of illusions thus far. Sure, the fear range made it so he legitimately couldn't fear anything right now, but eventually he might be able to fear things his level. That kind of power could be devastating to an army, especially with the volume increase.

As it stands, it was just another thing to grind. Excluding the lunge and roar abilities, Draga had them triggered as we speak on a continuous basis, along with the rest of his buffs. It was actually fairly easy, his frankly broken regen speed trumping any potential loss from his current activities.

Draga would spend the next hour or so just roaring continuously, spamming the ability since it's a duration buff rather than toggled, and leveling it a bunch of times. Whenever mana pooled enough for it, Draga would also lunge around a bit, but it was more of a side activity.

To his surprise, after he got each skill to over 25, he got an extra skill.

 **Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 200, 200 per minute**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. This is the penultimate technique of his followers.**

 **100% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **100% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **100% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 200 HP used per minute.**

 _That... Actually answers the problem I had earlier. I'm not learning the true techniques, but rather the simplified versions taught to the creators followers. The man must be a legend if this is the dulled version._

Sure enough, the moment he triggered it Draga could feel power behind his fists. Taking an experimental swing forward, his arm moving at a pace fast enough to blur slightly even through his perceptions, the fist blows a shockwave forward.

Watching the aftereffects, namely a blast of dust and sand shooting off into the distance, Draga is marveled by the potential that one ability just unlocked in him. The attack speed % was a bit confusing, but it could be explained.

 _My Dex determines a lot of stuff, including how fast I move, but not everything can just enhance Dex or I would be a god. The skill is probably compensating by enhancing two elements of it directly._

With all his skills up a decent level, Draga sought out some enemies to test it on. Triggering everything, because there really wasn't a reason not to, Draga sprints out into the wasteland once more.

According to his map, Draga was heading south. His previous ventures were mostly north-northwest so the Hokori population should have been higher. Key term there was should. The map wasn't revealing any Hokori, but typically it only showed things that could be sensed or allies so that wasn't anything new, and he couldn't see anything but vast red desert as he sprints across the barren landscape.

Leaving a trail of destroyed ground behind him, Draga continues south for more than fifty miles. Honestly, it didn't take that long, but because of his accelerated perceptions it seemed like to took forever before he actually found an enemy.

Depending on your views, either fortunately or unfortunately Draga, Draga ran across the Burida he'd seen before.

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Burida**

 _It's beyond my ability to see, but it's still just a mook. What are these things even?_

A quick use of **Observe** brings a surprisingly high amount of usable info.

 **Burida**

 **A species of Hokori that thrives on the blood of those they killed. If left alone in the near vicinity of death they can increase their powers immeasurably.**

 **Emotional state: Frustrated**

Hey, I said surprisingly high, not actually high. It at least described how this thing was leveling so quickly. _More EXP for me._

The Burida turns to face him, its large not-quite-but-sort-of-humanoid form towering over Draga to the extent that it had to lean over and look straight down to see him when he's over 10 feet away.

Judging based on his own height, Draga calculated the Burida to be slightly above 82' tall.

More than tall enough for the statement "The bigger they are, the harder they fall" to be true.

The problem was more along the lines of actually knocking it over. The thing wasn't lean like most humanoids he'd encountered. This thing was bulkier than anything he'd seen before, easily weighing 200 tons with its absurd size. It wouldn't be a stretch to say it's weight was up to double that because it wasn't human, but anymore than around 300 tons and its weight would prevent it from walking on the sandstone that now made up the majority of Earth's surface.

The Burida's face was covered in a giant white mask, one that wasn't there when Draga saw it the first time. How he knew it was the original? The hole where his head had entered its body was still there, having scaled up with its body. While the wound itself was healed, it didn't seem to have a healing factor. _Odd... Everything else has had a healing factor, even the Pansa, besides the Girimasu which were humans._

Recognizing Draga from before, the Burida roars through its mask, the sound sending visible shockwaves down towards Draga. Having experienced much the same thing at point blank over and over again from his own roar, Draga only took some damage from his ear drums bursting, and subsequently knitting themselves back together.

Draga retaliates with his own roar, not causing the visible shockwaves but at least rattling it a bit as the shockwaves resound through its massive form. Unfortunately, it gets a bit pissy at his retaliation.

The Burida raises an arm in a slow lumbering fashion, one would expect from a creature it's size, and Draga remains still as he could easily dodge the colossal limb.

Turns out, reality will always hate Gamers.

From one frame of vision to the next, the Burida's foot was in the sky over 20 feet above him, and in the next it was already knocking him through the floor.

Good news: Draga was sent through the Earth's surface rather than bursting from the contact with the grounds.

Bad news: it didn't matter.

The blow knocked Draga's health almost to 0 on its own, and because of the sheer speed it moved him he couldn't react before the environment took the last bit of it.

The feeling was rather odd. He was still there for a second, buried underneath the ground. He felt no pain, he felt no discomfort from his broken limbs knitting themselves back together.

Then his life bar flickered out of existence along with the rest of his HUD shortly after.

 _You gotta be fucking kidding me._

His vision blurs, morphing into blackness. And then: nothing.

 **Hey-o, guess who gets to kill a main character.**

 **This guy. Burida MVP.**

 **If you're wondering why his reaction time wasn't able to compensate since Electrical Nerves gives him instant reactions, he just couldn't perceive the attack. I created the Hokori before I even thought of Draga, a character I created before The Gamer was actually released but updated the system to be a bit closer to, and I needed to explain someone absurdly more powerful than Draga dying; hence super-powered attacks with set-up time. There're more out that too, but I think that's enough for right now.**

 **No, the series isn't over, I'm not gonna be that big a douche to any of you that actually enjoy my writing, but this is gonna take a significant turn.**

 **I won't post his character page at the bottom for what I feel is an obvious reason.**


	17. Sanity-1

Draga watches as his healthbar fizzle out of existence, soon followed by the rest of his HUD. Despite the injuries he sustained from that one attack, he felt no pain. It wasn't like the **Gamer's Body** kind of pain relief, but rather just the absence of feeling. He moves his arm slightly so it touches the edge of the hole he was trapped into, but when it touches no sensations reach his brain.

 _This is it, isn't it._

That thought resounds in his head, blocking out everything else. His vision blurs, the darkness at the edge of his vision encroaching forward until he couldn't see at all.

 _This IS it._

Even that thought is blocked out as Draga's senses all turn to black.

...

...

...

...

...

 _Wait, what?! If I'm dead I wouldn't see black! I would see nothing, because I'd be dead!_

Draga experimentally tries to open his eyes, and is temporarily blinded by a bright white light.

A few seconds pass before Draga recovers in what seems to be the natural way rather than his Gamer powers kicking in.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Draga turns to the voice, his vision still blurry from his actually-death experience. Floating around 20 feet away from Draga's layed out body was an upside-down Tet.

A giggle escapes the gods lips at Draga's reaction to his presence. His vision finally clears, giving him a good glimpse of the deity. Tet hums out a three-second tune before a less fun smile crosses his face.

"The monkey shall suffer and suffer 'til he can suffer no more."

Before Draga can question what he means by that, a big neon-rainbow colored number 5 appears above Tet's head. A second later, the number ticks down to a 4.

Tet giggles before waving towards Draga.

"Why are y-."

Draga's cut off as his vision swamps back to being black, a much faster version of the previous process repeating itself.

...

...

...

...

...

Draga opens his eyes, which he hadn't noticed himself closing, and is greeted by even more darkness. At least this time he could feel the gritty sandstone beneath him. _Probably in the hole still._

Triggering **Electrical Shell** as a light source, Draga is able to see the eighty or so feet of Earth he was blasted through before his death canceled his momentum. A quick check of where his HUD used to be reveals a full HP and MP bar. _A full heal on death. That number is probably a lives counter then._

Triggering **Electrical Silhouette** the moment the Burida lifts it's foot, Draga escapes from the hole he was stuck within. Now a much further distance, around 30 meters away, he starts preparing for an attack.

With all of his buffs active and his armor re-equipped, Draga uses a **Tiger's Lunge** to speed towards the beasts previous wound. Draga uses his sword, which was pulled out mid-flight to maximize speed efficiency, to tear the injury back open while also flying through the hole in its body.

Unlike most of the Hokori, Burida actually have blood. They can live without it, but it's useful to have for a variety of reasons, primarily growth. Because of this, the wound shoots blood out for a moment before being sealed by the very torrent of fluid coming from it.

The giant creature raises its leg again, planning to repeat the attack that seemed to work pretty well last time.

With Draga's buffs active, Draga see's what he's doing in slow motion essentially, giving him plenty of time to dodge the would-be attack while bombarding him with **Pale Lightning** , which while it does little damage, even now, it does enough for a cheap price that it doesn't matter. Every bolt was about .01% of his max HP, and it fired multiple at once, so around 2000 casts should defeat the thing.

 _No healing factor will be it's downfall. Everything should have one, really, otherwise the game system would allow slightly hard pokes to kill it eventually._

The Burida tries to stomp Draga anyway, but with Draga actively dodging the setup, the attack is ineffective at best.

It roars again, dealing a decent chunk of damage if not for it being instantly healed through **Scales** and of course natural regen. Draga continues his assault, leveling the skill repeatedly along the way. The bolt increase based on levels help short the casting number, but it doesn't really matter much.

 _This thing is so easy. How were these things ever a threat? There are people stronger than me, right?_

You know what they say about tempting fate? How things will always get worse when you do?

Turns out, it's wrong. At least this time.

The Burida is helpless, despite it's impressive level and strength, to stop Draga from killing it. The one time Draga slipped up in the five or so minutes it took the kill the thing, Draga dumped most of his mana into **Accelerate** and leapt out of the way of the oncoming limb in a burst of speed that rivaled it's own actual movements.

Despite how easy it was to kill the thing, the rewards were quite pleasant, probably due to its general power level rather than combat prowess. Unfortunately, the thing doesn't actually drop any items.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

With five more levels thrown into the pick and mix bag, Draga was able to do another enhancement. Knowing already that he was a mage, he dumps the points into **Wis** automatically, bringing it up to a lovely 100.

 **Clairvoyance (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50**

 **An ability given to those with the natural ability to clearly perceive the world through forms of Extrasensory Perception. Takes the form of enhanced visual acuity and perception beyond the limits of normal eyesight, as well as optical interpretation of information. Range, breadth, and visual processing increase with skill level, INT, and through related abilities.**

 **Additional 50 MP used per minute.**

 **Chaos Storm (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000, 1000 per second**

 **The ability to cause a storm of of the elements. The damage type and cause are dependent on the user's elemental affinities.**

 **Passively boosts all elemental affinities already owned by 5.**

 **Creates a storm around or near the user of a combination of all current elemental affinities. Only the user is immune to damage from the storm.**

 **Damage scales with Int, Skill LVL, and total elemental affinities.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **The user has gained enlightenment on the formation and structure of mana. The user can transfer mana between objects with ease, creating a bridge of energy, or disperse mana with his own.**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50%**

 **Actively allows MP transfer between self and other with 0.5m range.**

 **Actively can disperse anothers MP at a ratio of 1000:1**

 **Can disperse one's own mana into the atmosphere.**

All three abilities were active, so he decided to test them, but he wanted to do **Clairvoyance** last because of how it was described. _Might cause some sort of mental overload._ Using **Mana Tapping** first, Draga just dumps a few thousand MP into the atmosphere to see what happens. Turns out, that enhances the weather, at least if the sudden tripling in wind speed or the growth of clouds above was any indication.

The ability doesn't seem to create, merely enhance, because while the clouds above grow in size none that weren't there are actually made. _The ability could be fairly useful, but it's too expensive for it to be usable now. At least it leveled three times from that cast so the range increased and the ratio got better._

Moving onto the next ability, Draga waits the requisite couple seconds for his mana to recharge before using **Chaos Storm**.

Surrounding Draga, a massive field of electricity is formed. The 20m diameter sphere is composed of electricity only because Draga hadn't unlocked any other elemental affinities. The storm dropped his MP value by a lot, but the mana drain was fairly low for the power of the ability.

When he says power, he is of course referring to the molten slag beneath him from the stone beneath him melting from the heat energy produced. As Draga slowly sinks into the molten sandstone, taking a rather high amount of burning damage. Putting on his old Runies set, Draga's regen takes over the heat damage so he enters a sustainable relationship with what is essentially lava.

 _It's warm here... It's comfortable... And tiring..._

Draga slips into unconsciousness, his natural regen and still equipped armor keeping him safe in his sleep.

zzZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzzZ-

Draga wakes up exactly six hours later, his mind still not adjusted to the shortness of his rest. Back on Disboard, Draga would get around 10.5 hours of sleep as a minimum.

From his still quite comfortable position, Draga is unable to see anything. His somehow still active **Chaos Storm** and the molten rock surrounding him blocked his view. _Now's as good a time as any._

Draga triggers the final of his new skills, his vision temporarily blanking at that rather than the shade of red it was from the lava.

After the effect passes, Draga's mind is overwhelmed with sensory input, even his vastly enhanced mind cracking under the pressure of what he could see.

He could see everything.

Okay, that's a misnomer. He could see within his field of vision through the objects obstructing his path until it blurred around 100m away. That wasn't a distance to snark at though, especially when it came to the kind of sight we're talking about. He could see through the lava and sandstone, but he also DID see the lava and sandstone. Everything in that area was within his view.

Draga watches his HP bar diminish slowly, the pain overpowering his ability to think properly.

And then it happens.

 **[Gamers Mind] and [Gamers Body] have been updated!**

 **Now grants resistance to headaches/migraines and sensory overload.**

The window was currently submerged in liquid earth, but that doesn't seem to matter much as the very skill causing him the problem lets him see the solution coming for him.

The pain diminishes, but doesn't vanish, mollifying itself into a more minor throb, like the kind you take an Ibuprofen for. The HP drain also vanishes.

With the pain gone, Draga looks around him for any notifications. There are actually a large number of ones that weren't open before he fell asleep.

 **Through atunement with heat the skill [Fire] has been created!**

 **Fire (Passive) LVL36 EXP 1.53% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 36**

 **Current total affinity: 49.2**

 **By sleeping with abilities active the skill [Sleep Casting] has been created!**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to maintain casts while unconscious.**

 **Have an ability that either has a duration or is toggled and having it active when put to sleep causes Sleep Casting to trigger.**

 **Abilities can be continued while asleep for a 50% increase in net price.**

 **(The next ability was already owned, but it is important to bring up.)**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL20 EXP: 0.24% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 20%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 60 or 10%, whichever is larger.**

 **Through using it before unlocking the skill the skill [Magma Barracks] has been created!**

 **Magma Barracks (Active) LVL8 EXP: 96.41% MP:10000, 100000 per hour**

 **The ability to protect oneself with the melted components of the world.**

 **The materials surrounding the caster in a range of 5m are heated to around 8000 degrees. Anyone within is protected from outside attacks by the molten stuff, but can still be affected by the materials themselves.**

 **Cost per hour must be paid, but it can be paid over any time schedule dictated by the caster. If none is decided it will be drained linearly over the hour.**

 _So I got an expensive physical barrier spell that super-heats the area around me, like the magma I'm in right now, I got a higher fire affinity than I do with electricity by sleeping in magma, and I can now maintain my spells in my sleep. I wonder why I don't have an air affinity if sleeping in magma gives me a fire affinity. Excluding today, I've always slept with exposure to air. Hell, there's probably some air in here too._

Questioning the game aside, it was a rather nice increase in power, mostly coming from **Sleep Casting**. The ability to maintain his abilities while sleeping means he can keep training even during the 6 hours downtime, meaning he just gains a flat 100% increase in skill experience from the sleep buff.

 _I wonder... I have the knowledge of how **Electrical Silhouette** came about. Could I make a similar one for fire?_

While still 'trapped' inside the ground, Draga experiments for a while. A ton of failed attempts later, here's what he had to show for it.

 **Flaming Prison** **(Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a field of fire. This field feeds on the fires within the radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The ability to coat ones body or weapon in flames. These flames do not injure the caster, but can damage the user's equipment.**

 **Coats any amount of the users body and equipment that they choose in fire. If flammable material is coated in flames, the spell may use it as fuel to halve the cost.**

 **Flame Coat (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per minute**

 **The ability to have flames surround the user while leaving them completely unaffected.**

 **Coats the entirety of the user, his equipment, and anything linked magically to him. The flames do not affect the caster or their equipment.**

 _I didn't get a flame equivalent of **Electrical Silhouette**... That kinda sucks. _ Continuing to fail at his attempts, Draga gives up and swims out of the molten pit he was within.

 _Hey wait a second... What if I sleep like this everyday? Could I max **Fire** from just that? Being completely invulnerable to fire would be so useful, especially with the other effects making it beyond 100% damage reduction. Would that heal me, thornmail the effect, or just negate the damage?_

It was something to test out, but he couldn't go to sleep now. He had some grinding to do.

Triggering his usual slew of buffs, **Flame Coat** , and **Flaming Shadow** , Draga starts running into the wasteland once more.

Gradual grinding of his skills on unlucky mobs continued to level them, and at one point he even gained a level from it. In all liklyhood, it was the Burida who gave him most of the EXP he needed for that.

Taking a brief break, Draga takes a quick glance around. **Clairvoyance** may give him long range x-ray vision, which had only gotten longer as he leveled it up, but it didn't give him a 360 degree field of view.

Finding nothing of suspect, Draga turns on **Electrical Silhouette** , and from there, triggers **Flame Coat**. The ability lights his body aflame as it should, the flames not even visible moving because of the ridiculous pace his perceptions went at while in this form.

Appearing within his field of view, Draga gets what he wanted.

And other stuff...

 **Fiery Body (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per minute**

 **The ability**

 **Passively increases taken water based damage by 10%.**

 **Passively reduces cutting damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all stats by 10% in a hot or dry environment.**

 **Passively increases fire affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves fire based damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into fire, granting complete immunity to increasing temperature, the ability to create flames on surfaces within 20m for 1000 MP, and a form immune to physical damage.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to combine elemental abilities for greater effect.**

 **Whenever an elemental ability is comparable to another they can be cast at the same time with new effects for 1000x the mana cost.**

 **Affinities for mixed elements are the average of the combined base affinities.**

 **By combining Fiery Body and Electrical Silhouette the skill [Destruction Silhouette] has been created!**

 **Destruction Silhouette (Passive and Active)** **LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100000 per second**

 **The ability to transform into an aspect of pure destruction, gaining the powers that would come with it.**

 **Passively increases taken damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all terrain damaging effects by 10%**

 **Passively increases fire and lightning affinities by 10.**

 **Passively increases total damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into a contained maelstrom of energy. Allows 360 degree flight at running speed and grants immunity to physical damage.**

 **While in this form, the user is able to intentionally disintegrate materials with a touch.**

 **Disableable.**

 _Holy Tet! This is literally perfect. It combines the best aspects of **Electrical Silhouette** without giving me the issue of no none-electric casting and equipment use. Armor would be pretty useless regardless... I just gotta watch out for water-based enemies, because so far my elemental abilities are all countered by water._

That was something to work on later, because there wasn't really any water inland. Trevor mentioned underground rivers, but those shouldn't really affect his combat a whole lot.

The next few days passed by in a blur, Draga leveling up his skills, sleeping in lava, and occasionally doing strength exercises. He was interrupted from his grinding of Pansa with **Destruction Silhouette** by Trevor calling out to him from a distance.

"Draga, we got a problem!"

Draga kills the enemies with range instantly, a burst of lightning and fire consuming their bodies. He turns to Trevor, his form returning to normal.

"And what would that be?"

Trevor stops his running, slightly tired out, and takes a moment to explain.

"I mentioned how the war might still be going on, right?"

Draga nods.

"Well, turns out it isn't. The Hokori finished off the military of Russia just recently, and they were the last ones standing. A bunch of survivors made it out, and a few came to America, where we are, because they were aware of its low Hokori population. The problem is that they attracted some attention, and not the adorable kind like Pansa. I can feel the footsteps of something massive from here."

Draga sighs, mimicking Trevor's annoyance-tic by pinching his nose.

"And this attention is gonna destroy your city, yeah?"

Nodding somberly, Trevor continues.

"That's not the only issue. They talk of something they just call Sora. It was a man-like Hokori that descended from the sky and wrecked havoc on their base. Based on their descriptions, it sounds like it had elemental powers too."

"Why is everything in this universe centered around elements or just raw power? Where is someone with the ability to pull pies out of empty backpacks or something?"

Completely ignoring Draga's complaint to the universe, Trevor mentions one last thing before running off.

"I'll take care of the giant Hokori, because I can move the ground beneath them, but I'm not gonna be able to deal with Sora for sure. Any flight ability negates most of my combat potential. That would be where you come in."

"I get the boss monster. Figures."

As if on cue, a alert appears.

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Star Child**

 **You have been recruited to deal with a certain Aeromancer.**

 **Kill 'Sora'.**

 **Time limit: 24 hours.**

 **Quest rewards: Air skillbook, information on Hokori, information on Fushai.**

 **Quest failure: Death, Akilahara's destruction, allies deaths (Depending on severity of failure).**

 **Y/N**

 _Of all the quests to let me deny, you make it the one people besides myself die if I fail. Screw you game. And only a day too. What, is he just gonna show up?_

Draga looks up at the sky expectantly, fully believing Sora would just fall from the sky in front of him. Unfortunately no such thing occurs.

Pressing the yes button with an obviously irritated expression, Draga gives Trevor his answer verbally.

"I'll kill Sora."

Accepting his answer, Trevor runs off in what Draga presumes is the direction of the BIG bad.

And now he needed to find the not-literally-big bad.

 _If I could get headaches, I'd have one right now._

Draga sets off to Akilahara to interrogate these new people, and also check whether they are Girimasu or not.

When he arrives at the city, the trio of identical armored marine-like people that had come from Russia are already there.

Before questioning them, he takes a quick glance at their heads, and is rather disappointed by two of them lacking titles.

 **[LVL 18]**

 **Alexandra Elise**

 **[LVL 22]**

 **Valeriya Elise**

 **[LVL 34]**

 **Albert Coder, The Iron Hand**

 _They're probably sisters._

"Any way to track Sora, as you called him?"

The person Draga guessed was the leader of the three removed his helmet, showing off a light-brown, almost blond, haired chiseled man. A quick **Observe** determines that he at least is actually human.

Good news: they spoke English.

"Unfortunately no, sir. Even with all our equipment, he was undetected until the attack began. We believe he was so far into the sky as to be undetectable by radar or anything else we had. He didn't seem to move at a speed that was untraceable, but finding him in the first place would be the issue."

Draga nods along.

"And his presence was enough to wipe out your entire military?"

A rather dark expression enters Albert's face, Draga's sentence obviously bringing up some unpleasant memories.

"There were some other Hokori, and we fought them down, but he was a monster. He dashed around the battlefield, barely visible to most of us, and people died just from being near him. We don't know exactly what was happening, but we think he was messing with the air in their bodies. When we realized how hopeless fighting him was, around half the army split up. The other half tried to defeat him, but it was a slaughter. Nothing hit him. Bullets bounced off of him, lasers didn't scratch him, and even heavy impacts from a few of our soldiers accomplished nill."

Draga speaks up before he can continue.

"That's all well and good, but not helpful. Unless you can tell me exactly how he was doing anything, it'd be best if we just waited until he got here. Based on the time limit I'd give it 12 hours."

Albert raises an eyebrow while tilting his head.

"What? Time limit? Is there a timed explosive or something?"

Draga shakes his head, obviously not in the mood to explain his powers right now, especially since it would take longer than he estimated the wait time to be.

"Just be prepared to run for the hills."

With that rather dark message, Draga turns around and leaves Akilahara, starting a high-speed patrol around town in an attempt to level up his Dex. During this time, Draga disabled the passive effects of **Electrical Silhouette**.

It was just under 10 hours later that something changed. High in the sky, what looked like a meteor was coming down. Based on his prior experience with skydiving, Draga could take an accurate guess as to what it was.

A special party-crasher.

Draga reactivated the passives for his most iconic ability since his Dex was nowhere near that high naturally, and waited for the being to land.

What happened next was only equatable to a god's smite.

The kind of power we're talking it something Draga had seen twice, once by an actual god, one of the Old Deus, and one by a magic simulation Sora managed to drag him into.

Turns out, the Sora's in the universe were two for three.

With his acceleration so high and his **Dex** being far more than natural, Draga didn't get an accurate representation of the speed Sora fell with. When he landed, the explosion reached Draga at the same speed he was able to trigger **Fiery Body** , not using **Electrical Silhouette** because he needed time to pass for the explosion to move by him and he wasn't tempted to wait out a few months worth of perceived time for the explosion to pass.

The explosion blew past him in a way that would have blinded Draga if not for his new vision ability. With it, Draga was able to see the complete annihilation of the city and the trio within it. Fortunately, it seemed the samurai bloke wasn't home at the time.

All of this from an impact at the center of the city by a man-sized object who escaped unscathed.

Unfortunately, Sora seemed to know he was there, at least if a direct cold stare was any indication. Oddly enough, boss music hadn't started yet, which was odd considering the boss had already killed three people and done at least some damage to Draga. _I don't even have the monologue title active, so he's just chilling of his own accord._

Sora casually walks closer to Draga, giving him ample time to read his now legible nameplate.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Aero-Sora, Progenitus**

Sora continues forward, walking at a slight angle from Draga. _Why would he be casual with me? Does he think I'm a-._

Sora walks right past him, gesturing for him to follow.

 _Girimasu..._

 **Yo dog, I heard yo dogs yo-yo with yo dog's yo-yo, but yo dog's yo-yo go yo-yo with yo dog so long yo dog's yo-yo can't yo-yo for yo dogs.**

 **Just as a note, I am still not counting equipment towards his combat abilities.**

 **I got a Beta-Reader now, but I still want people to review. Do it. Do it or Mewujudkan is gonna get yah.**

 **God, it's been wild getting here, but its mostly been straight-forward combat sequences and quest lines. This story is only gonna get more and more complicated, but not more convoluted. I will do my best to continue my work at this pace.**

 **I wanted to do a pol really quick. Feel free to communicate your answer through review or through PM, but regardless, here's the question.**

 **"What is the biggest issue plaguing RWBY Gamer fics today?"**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 5402**

 **MP: 115990**

 **Str: 26(53.001)**

 **Vit: 53(108.041)**

 **Dex: 104(291.152)**

 **Int: 100(305.775)**

 **Wis: 50(152.888)**

 **Luk: 20(42)**

 **Points: 6**

 **Height: 5'5''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through constant playing of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve math problems that the user knows how to solve in 1.98 seconds.**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL13 EXP 14.51% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 13**

 **Current total affinity: 46.36**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL3 EXP 46.24% MP:96**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:8%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scale (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Language (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.76% MP:300, 300 per minute**

 **The user has started on the incredibly arduous journey of learning a new language, and as such has the ability to learn such.**

 **Occasionally grants knowledge of words when hearing them.**

 **Current chance: .8%**

 **Actively allows memorization of words and multiplies the above odds by 10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL22 EXP: 13.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 22%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 66 or 11%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL33 EXP:27.93% MP:5500, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 100 minutes.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL39 EXP: 14.00% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 810 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .1% status.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.**

 **Imposes or removes emotional status effects on a target.**

 **Max status level: Low.**

 **This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Unlocks emotional state for Observe.**

 **Blind Fist Mastery (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 10.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage.**

 **Passively reduces sound and scent emitted by 50%.**

 **Actively increases effectiveness of all martial arts by 13%. Double effect if a Blind Fist attack.**

 **Actively increases Dex and Str by 5.**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Darkness is the absence of light, so if you control light you also control darkness. Gelap is the power to control light in an area and specifically cause it to cease.**

 **Removes 4% of light in a cubic meter.**

 **Can be stacked in an area.**

 **Can have any number of simultaneous casts.**

 **Stampede (Active) LVL9 EXP: 38.20%% MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 116%.**

 **Increase charging force by 116%.**

 **Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL13 EXP: 9.78% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The foot technique for fast movement in combat intended for an ancient martial arts style.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 5%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 20% when active.**

 **Claws of the Tiger (Active) LVL13 EXP: 43.51% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The most basic technique of an ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **36% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.14% MP:100**

 **A technique central to an ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **52% increase to jumping distance.**

 **26% increase to movement speed.**

 **26% increase to attack damage.**

 **Applies to a single action.**

 **Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL5 EXP: 48.29% MP:1000**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Changes your voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Up to 940% increase in volume for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 5% of current level.**

 **Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL9 EXP: 18.95% MP: 200, 200 per minute**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. This is the penultimate technique of his followers.**

 **116% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **116% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **116% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 200 HP used per minute.**

 **Clairvoyance (Active) LVL8 EXP: 61.51% MP: 50**

 **An ability given to those with the natural ability to clearly perceive the world through forms of Extrasensory Perception. Takes the form of enhanced visual acuity and perception beyond the limits of normal eyesight, as well as optical interpretation of information. Range, breadth, and visual processing increase with skill level, INT, and through related abilities.**

 **Additional 50 MP used per minute.**

 **Chaos Storm (Passive and Active) LVL19 EXP: 14.52% MP:10000, 1000 per second**

 **The ability to cause a storm of of the elements. The damage type and cause are dependent on the user's elemental affinities.**

 **Passively boosts all elemental affinities already owned by 5.**

 **Creates a storm around or near the user of a combination of all current elemental affinities. Only the user is immune to damage from the storm.**

 **Damage scales with Int, Skill LVL, and total elemental affinities.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 18.32% MP:Variable**

 **The user has gained enlightenment on the formation and structure of mana. The user can transfer mana between objects with ease, creating a bridge of energy, or disperse mana with his own.**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50%**

 **Actively allows MP transfer between self and other with 2m range.**

 **Actively can disperse anothers MP at a ratio of 1000:4**

 **Can disperse one's own mana into the atmosphere.**

 **Fire (Passive) LVL48 EXP 50.15% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 48**

 **Current total affinity: 89.06**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to maintain casts while unconscious.**

 **Have an ability that either has a duration or is toggled and having it active when put to sleep causes Sleep Casting to trigger.**

 **Abilities can be continued while asleep for a 50% increase in net price.**

 **Magma Barracks (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.51% MP:95000, 95000 per hour**

 **The ability to protect oneself with the melted components of the world.**

 **The materials surrounding the caster in a range of 5m are heated to around 8000 degrees. Anyone within is protected from outside attacks by the molten stuff, but can still be affected by the materials themselves.**

 **Cost per hour must be paid, but it can be paid over any time schedule dictated by the caster. If none is decided it will be drained linearly over the hour.**

 **Flaming Prison** **(Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a field of fire. This field feeds on the fires within the radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The ability to coat ones body or weapon in flames. These flames do not injure the caster, but can damage the user's equipment.**

 **Coats any amount of the users body and equipment that they choose in fire. If flammable material is coated in flames, the spell may use it as fuel to halve the cost.**

 **Flame Coat (Active) LVL2 EXP: 0.00% MP:990, 990 per minute**

 **The ability to have flames surround the user while leaving them completely unaffected.**

 **Coats the entirety of the user, his equipment, and anything linked magically to him. The flames do not affect the caster or their equipment.**

 **Fiery Body (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 0.00% MP:985, 985 per minute**

 **The ability**

 **Passively increases taken water based damage by 10%.**

 **Passively reduces cutting damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all stats by 10% in a hot or dry environment.**

 **Passively increases fire affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves fire based damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into fire, granting complete immunity to increasing temperature, the ability to create flames on surfaces within 20m for 1000 MP, and a form immune to physical damage.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to combine elemental abilities for greater effect.**

 **Whenever an elemental ability is comparable to another they can be cast at the same time with new effects for 1000x the mana cost.**

 **Affinities for mixed elements are the average of the combined base affinities.**

 **By combining Fiery Body and Electrical Silhouette the skill [Destruction Silhouette] has been created!**

 **Destruction Silhouette (Passive and Active)** **LVL2 EXP: 4.61% MP:99500 per second**

 **The ability to transform into an aspect of pure destruction, gaining the powers that would come with it.**

 **Passively increases taken damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all terrain damaging effects by 10%**

 **Passively increases fire and lightning affinities by 10.**

 **Passively increases total damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into a contained maelstrom of energy. Allows 360 degree flight at running speed and grants immunity to physical damage.**

 **While in this form, the user is able to intentionally disintegrate materials with a touch.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Tet's Blessing (Max)**

 **Passively increases Str by 50%**

 **Passively increases Vit by 50%**

 **Passively increases Dex by 50%**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Bonus 2 points upon leveling up**

 **+200% EXP from killing monsters**

 **+100% EXP from training**

 **Disboard Conqueror (Max)**

 **Passively increases Int by 50%**

 **Passively increases Wis by 50%**

 **Passively increases Luk by 50%**

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

 **Girimasu (MAX)**

 **The affected unit has become completely transformed into a Girimasu.**

 **100% penalty to reactions of people aware of your condition.**

 **The skill [Hokori Shell] is usable with a 100% mana efficiency.**

 **The afflicted person can corrupt others in the same way he/she was.**

 **If the affected unit is a Gamer, their title is automatically changed to Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Off-Hand:** **Kucing - A red sword cursed by Eldra to corrupt its wielder. The corruption is like a disease, but it can only be spread if intended and its results can vary, making it a tricky problem for those who don't know about it. The sword itself is lighter but more durable than steel and is razor sharp. It will remain in this condition as long as the wielder is corrupted.**

 **Ranged: None**

 **Head: Kerrigan Visor - +10 DR (+20 while powered) and grants [Night Vision]+[Heat Vision (Sight, not attack)] while Powered**

 **Chest:** **Kerrigan Guard - +50 DR (+250 while powered) and -2 Dex (+2 while powered).**

 **Legs:** **Kerrigan Greaves - +50 DR (+200 while powered) and -1 Dex (+3 while powered).**

 **Feet:** **Kerrigan Boots - +20 DR (+40 while powered), + 0 STR (+6 while powered), and -1 Dex (+1 while powered).**

 **Wrists: Kerrigan Gauntlets - +20 DR (+40 while powered), + 0 STR (+6 while powered), and -1 Dex (+1 while powered).**

 **Hands: Vasutra - +10DR and 100% increase to punching force.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Ring 2:** **Sutra - A ring carrying the essence of a giant spider. The wearer is able to cling to porous surfaces for free, and non-porous surfaces for 50 mana a second.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **(2) Armband: Asiemad - Increases lifting capacity of worn arm by 100%.**

 **Back: Kerrigan Guard cont. - +50 DR (+250 while powered) and -2 Dex (+2 while powered).**

 **Underarmor Head: None**

 **Underarmor Chest: Tallow - Increases HP regen by 50%, increases max HP by 10%, and increases DR by 10%.**

 **Underarmor Legs: None**

 **Underarmor Feet: None**

 **Underarmor Hands: None**

 **Kerrigan Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **Creates a sealed environment, preventing airborne toxins and bio-hazards from entering the suit.**


	18. Sanity-2

**You know that poll I set up on my profile? Of course you don't. Well, I have decided to try and mitigate the biggest problem in my opinion: The power of Gamer's Mind. This version of it in particular has always been super effective, and while I had plans in place to make it weaker, most of it wouldn't even happen in this timeline, so that's new. Regardless, I'd love to get your feedback on the poll, because it will change my future writing.**

 **Btw, I just now realized how to do the horizontal line. Good feature.**

 **I also think I should apologize for the delay on my updating. I have been engrossed in many things, one of which is a great book by Catherine Jinks. If you're into anti-hero stories featuring genuinely smart characters, I'd reccomend her book, Evil Genius. Anyway, an explanation isn't gonna excuse me breaking my commitment to this fic. I will be working more often in the near future to make up for lost time. I hope you bear with me.**

 **Without further ado, some high-jinks.**

Sora kept walking despite Draga not moving, and the message of his movement was clear: Sora wanted him to help with something, but could do without the assistance. With an internal sigh, Draga follows along, intentionally putting a thin layer of the Hokori on himself to reinforce Sora's notion that he was a Girimasu.

A problem actually came up for Draga. Trying to walk at the speed of a normal human was rather difficult with his **Dex** so outrageously inflated and his time being multiplied. It was a struggle just to take a step without moving over 4 feet. After a few seconds, or for him 21 seconds, Draga manages to hold himself to just about Sora's speed, staying a 'safe' 10 feet behind him.

The walk takes a rather long time, over an hour even in normal time. Draga couldn't even grind his skills during this time or Sora would obviously suspect something. Why else would someone maintain a field of electricity and fire around themselves?

When Sora finally stops, there's still nothing there but seemingly endless wasteland. Popping **Clairvoyance** only confirms the idea, the ground being completely solid.

Turns out, Draga wasn't thinking or seeing far enough.

The air surrounding Sora and Draga shifts, the force being strong enough to lift the pair of them. This process repeats itself a few times, raising them into the air enough for Sora's next move.

The air forms a sort of elevator, the air beneath them pushing up while air descends from above a little away, maintaining the air pressure. They keep rising for a while, a few minutes probably, until the pair are set down on what appears to be just a floating platform in the sky.

Now, Draga had taken a glance upwards, but **Clairvoyance** had a maximum range that wasn't anywhere near enough to see this far up.

The platform they were on was empty, and only had about 25 square feet worth of space, so Draga was noticeably confused about what they were doing there. His unspoken question was answered when an orange sandstone temple-like building enters his field of view, previously invisible, how not being known.

 _Of all the powers I had to go up against, we get to add invisibility too. This isn't even Lord Fushai. What kinda crap is he gonna have?_

Because there wasn't much he could do about it, Draga banishes the though in order to deal with the moment. Sora had already started moving inside, so Draga follows in step.

A path is traced through the maze-like entrance of corridors, presumably going off into different rooms, but with Sora as a guide Draga makes it to the main chamber. The building seems to be centered around this room, the pillars that support higher floors being decoratively built in the design. Painted pictures on the pillars, walls, and floor illuminate the area, revealing a massive throne with what seems to be a human seated in it. At least, it would seem that way if not for the text above his head.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Fushai, Gods Left Hand**

A quick **Observe** brings about more unfortunate news.

 **Lord Fushai**

 **A being of utmost power and fortitude. Nothing is known of this mans orgin or abilities.**

 **Race: Demigod.**

 _An actual demigod... For fucks sake!_ Draga glances towards Sora, noting that he was bowing before Fushai. Deciding to be safe, Draga does the same, rising with Sora upon completion.

"Lord Fushai, I have brought a Girimasu. It appears he lacks your blessing."

 _Blessing? You mean we get a power boost from this guy? Sweet._

Fushai nods, sparing a moment to size Draga up. The armor was there, confirming that he was a Girimasu, but despite the lack of a blessing he could feel what Draga was capable of.

Fushai stands up, beckoning Draga closer. Rather excited for another boost, Draga steps forward immediately, looking up at the not only raised but also naturally taller form of the demigod. Fushai raises a hand, placing it on Draga's head.

"It is through unity that we attain equality, but it is through power that we attain peace. Through the power of my god, you have been freed."

 **The status effect [King's Will] has been negated by [Gamer's Mind].**

 **The status effect [Hive] has been negated by [Gamer's Mind].**

 _Where's the powerup?_

 **The status effect [Freed Mind] has been negated by [Gamer's Mind].**

 _Why would it-?_

 **The power of [Gamer's Mind] weakens.**

Draga internally blanks, thoughts stopping completely as he just stares at that notification.

Fushai doesn't sit during this time either. He could tell that his 'blessing' failed.

Since direct contact with Draga's head was already established, Fushai uses his immense strength to simply crush Draga's skull in a way that would have killed any normal thing instantly.

Gamer's aren't normal.

The moment Fushai retracts his hand, Draga is already back in an operable state with an unfortunate 4000 HP drop.

Noting that Draga was still alive, Fushai raises an eyebrow.

"Impressive. You have resisted my control and healed from a decimated head, but I will bend you to my will."

Despite the promise coming directly from him, Fushai nods towards Sora in an unspoken form of assignment, a task to take Draga himself. It was unclear why he did this, but Draga attributed it to laziness.

Sora acts spontaneously, there being no sign he was even paying attention until his fist was already planted in Draga's face. Dumping mana into **Reinforce** , an ability unused for a while now, Draga doesn't take any damage from the strike. That doesn't mean he isn't sent flying back, crashing through several walls. This does teach Draga an important fact, though: Reinforce applies to experienced seconds rather than actual seconds, meaning at his standard 7-times speed the damage reduction lasted 1/7th of a second.

Crashing through the walls results in a significant loss of health, but with **Scales** Draga remained at around half health during his unintended flight out of the building.

Once outside, Draga is shortly followed by a certain elementalist. Said elementalist creates a platform beneath Draga out of condensed air, which he subsequently slams into for another 1000 HP drop.

Sora looks at Draga's collapsed form, his smiling mask giving him a rather eerie vibe beyond that of death. It was unlikely Sora could kill him with the power's he's displayed so far, but he could certainly make it painful. There was also the niggling thought in the back of his mind that Sora hadn't even started trying yet, especially with how he's being generous with free time and creating platforms.

"Come now, surely you don't expect me to bow from a blow like that."

Draga was most definitely testing his luck here. With the whole 'bend you to my will' part, Draga didn't expect Fushai to want him dead. If Sora could hear (which he unfortunately had no evidence that he could) anyway.

Taking the given break to quickly regen his HP and slightly diminished MP, Draga merely observes Sora as he sits down and copies Draga's position.

Experimenting, Draga enters his meditative pose, one of his skills, one he didn't bother to remember with it's low level, granting him muscle memory for correct posture.

A moment passes, Sora observing Draga right back, before he moves to copy Draga's position again.

 _Is he curious? I don't understand what he's doing right now._

Mulling it over, Draga is unfortunately distracted when Sora makes his next move.

The platform drops from beneath the pair, the freefall itself nothing really bothering Draga. What did bother him was the sudden impact of Sora's fist with his chest, blowing him towards the ground at a break-neck pace.

Fortunately, the pair were so far up in the sky that Draga is given ages to react. Popping his **Fiery Body** , rather than **Electrical Silhouette** , as to give himself a 'normal' time rate for reactions. Having pretty much time-speed reactions was nice, but he didn't want to test his luck.

Lightning moved because of air, after all.

Sora's next attack was easily dodged with his newfound flight, providing Draga enough time to think of a temporary plan.

 _He relies on air. Getting him higher in the atmosphere will reduce the ammo he can use while simultaneously empowering flame based attacks since hydrogen, the only high concentration explosive gas found in the air, only exists within the uppermost layers. It will also let me test if he needs to breathe._

Just as he starts floating upwards, a shift occurs in Sora. He stops midair and turns towards Draga, his mask's face reshaping itself. The previously hill-shaped eyes and smiling mouth move into straight lines.

 _How-._

 **Background Music enabled: Can't Hold Us, Macklemore  
**

 _That can't be good.  
_

Sora's level and title remain the same, something Draga's rather grateful for, but that doesn't make it any less threatening for music that has thus far only occurred for serious boss fights to turn on.

 _This song's pretty good._

As the tempo suddenly picks up, Sora brings his hands around into a wide armed clap.

With his control over the air, Sora empowers the sound waves until they breach the decibel scale, turning into pressure waves. As the movement passes by Draga's body, the fire that makes him up is spread apart.

That itself wouldn't matter much, but taking a glance at his limbs, Draga notes how the fire isn't coming back.

 _Intentionally removing oxygen... Smart._

Before his entire body is destroyed, something that would kill him, Draga uses the newest of his abilities.

Turns out, when gases can't combust, his abilities still have to destroy things, but now it had a more energetic way.

 **Destruction Silhouette** takes hold, obliterating the molecules Draga existed within the only way it could: fission.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A blinding flash blasts from his location for over fifteen seconds, a massive shockwave and a bombardment of heat and light following in its wake.

Rapidly accelerating himself away and creating a barrier of air around himself, Sora tries to protect himself from the literal nuclear bomb Draga unintentionally turned himself into. Despite his efforts, Sora takes heavy internal damage from the shockwaves, although the barrier does protect him from the heat.

Draga isn't nearly as lucky.

Even blowing all of his mana on **Reinforce** and disabling his time enhancement to maximize it's effect, it wasn't enough to prevent his HP consumption.

 _Fuck._

Unable to see while within his elemental forms, at least in the traditional sense, his world doesn't go dark like it did last time. It does, however, seem to stop in time.

* * *

"Back so soon?"

Opening his eyes and noting his ordinary body, Draga turns to face Tet. Unlike before, Tet wasn't floating around playfully. It seemed Draga's death actually carried some weight this time around.

"I didn't plan on dying, now did I?"

Tet nods, his eyes closing as he lets out a sigh.

"Three to go."

 _Ugh... And I still have to finish off Sora._

Draga waves goodbye to Tet before the black takes over his perceptions.

* * *

Appearing within the real world once again, Draga is already being pulled by the weight of gravity.

 _Why couldn't cartoon gravity be real?_

Not that it was a real bother, though. The fall gives Draga a moment to look for Sora, who was missing.

 _If I killed him with that, I'd have gotten XP and probably leveled a bunch of times. Since I haven't, that's clearly not the case._

His search is interrupted by a hand gripping the back of his throat and attempting to crush it.

Not wanting to lose yet another one of his lives to carelessly using his elemental skills, Draga retaliates to the attack with his own.

Taking advantage of his ridiculous 'biology', Draga sticks an arm behind him, and uses the chest of his enemy as a surface to turns himself around. The maneuver gives ample time for his neck to be destroyed, but it mattered not.

After all, he had full mana again.

 **Reinforce** preventing the attack from hurting him, at the expense of a good third of his mana, Draga is able to focus on...

 **[LVL?]**

 **Fushai, Gods Left Hand**

 _Oh dear._

Before Draga can actually get his attack off, he can feel Fushai going through his 'blessing' again, this time with more effort in place. While he knew the effects themselves would be blocked, he'd rather his power remain how it was.

Triggering **Electrical Silhouette** to escape, Draga looks around for Sora.

Unfortunately, Sora seems to have found him.

Even in his virtually impervious electrical form, there were weaknesses to be exploited, several of which Draga was aware of. Unfortunately, one of them was the same weakness that Sora already was taking advantage of: the air.

Sora had prepared a sort of trap, if you will, that would explode when Draga turned into fire. The way it was set up, the unstable gases he used created a perfect gateway for electricity as well.

Universe being what it is, it voted for path of least resistance.

Draga, totally unprepared for this, was pulled along the strip of explosive gases directly towards Sora.

Choosing to get the hell out of there, Draga leaves his electrical form and braces for the explosion with **Reinforce**. The force sends him blasting downward, but Sora seemed prepared for that as well when he impacts with an air platform.

Before Draga can recover from the impact, both Sora and Fushai are next to him. Fushai had his hand on his head once more, pushing for the take over that simply wouldn't come. Rather unfortunately, more of the worrying pop up from before appear.

A bit more immediately impactful, Sora was tearing the air from within his body out. While Draga didn't need to breathe to live, air still existed within him and tearing it out was an excruciatingly painful experience for anyone.

Agony blinding his thought process, Draga lashed out wildly. His sword left his inventory, appearing within his hand as it swung towards Sora, the more active threat.

The blade doesn't go very far, only lodging itself within his Hokori armor. It has the intended effect, however, as Sora does back off for a moment to remove the sword from his side.

With the pain purged by his still weakening **Gamers Mind** , Draga triggers the only ability he can think to: **Magma Chamber**.

Heat resistant they may be, lava was a bit beyond their pay grade. As the heat waves blast from Draga's location burn anything it can, Fushai and Sora back off to outside the effect radius.

For the first time since he'd been revealed, Sora speaks. It's a simple sentence, but one that carries a lot of weight with it.

"Fool."

Rather than question it, Draga activates **Electrical Silhouette**. With his **Magma Chamber** still active, gases that can explode, which are the ones that would draw him through it, are removed from the equation before reaching him.

Sora seems to have taken that into account with his plan, though, as instead of adding air to his equation, he removes it.

Vacuums have some odd properties. Usually, a vacuum in the atmosphere would simply be filled, but if it can't, some rather unpleasant things occur.

First off, electricity can't exist within a vacuum, so Draga's HP was rapidly drained to almost nothing before he swapped to his normal form less than a perceived second later.

Second, vacuums are very unsafe for living things. Since most of the air within his body was drained, his lungs were safe, but a vacuum draws on everything. Most people within a vacuum would die of suffocation before anything else really bad happened. Stuck within a vacuum, he can tell that the fluids, primarily stomach acid, are being pulled out any available exit. This would also include very rapid sweating.

Third, heat can't spread in a vacuum. Draga only survived his body personally receiving the full wrath of his own skill thanks to his affinity for the element and blowing as much mana as possible in **Scales** to refill his rapidly draining HP.

 _Bastard. I can't use fire in here either, and if I use the combination technique he's simply blow me up again._

The technique wasn't a death sentence or anything, because Draga could use **Scales** to maintain his health, but it kept him from doing anything.

In other words: A perfect prison. Fushai and Sora take a moment to talk to each other. Draga isn't able to hear it, what with being in a vacuum, but he can guess it's about how to kill him. They probably thought the vacuum was a death sentence since almost all living things die in them.

Being unable to read lips, and even if he could their masks blocking any chance of it, Draga focuses his attention on what he's going to do. _I can't move, the vacuum sticking me in place and not giving me a surface to move along. Lightning can't move in a vacuum, fire requires fuel, and the **Destruction Silhouette** would kill me if I use it and he does what he did again._

 _Not like I have much of a choice though. If I give them all the time in the world to plan, they will win._

Draga turns on the ability, smiling a bit that he could exist in this state while within a vacuum. Sora and Fushai's posture change instantly upon using it, showing surprise beyond the realm of, say, "What the hell is he thinking?". _No. This is on the realm of taken aback. Did they-._

A realization dawns upon him: They hadn't seen his power when he used it. It instantly caused an explosion that would block out any possible form of detection, and he died before they got a glimpse.

 _I should have realized. They probably think that explosion was some sort of attack._

Draga takes advantage of their surprised to make his first attack in a while. Flying out of the vacuum with **Acceleration** among other things buffing his speed, Draga collides with Sora.

The armor resists it's destruction, which is rather unfortunate since Draga didn't have much time in this form. The cost was far too extravagant.

 _Plan B, which I totally didn't just make up._

Since the armor was resisting destruction, maybe his insides wouldn't. While a full second still hadn't passed in real time, Draga starts to cast **Magma Chamber** , taking advantage of the nebulous cost feature to use the costly ability while lacking the mana to do so. _I'll just pay it off later._

The skill is then empowered by his lightning element, turning it into a destruction element ability. 1000x0=0, so still free. _Jeez, this shit is broken._

This skill has better luck. While the armor still resists his influence, the waves of what can only be described as 'destruction energy' affect his already damaged internal organs.

 **Quick note, I figured you might be questioning how Draga doesn't realize he hurt Sora. Health-bars appear only when he uses** **Observe, meaning since he doesn't think he's done any damage he wouldn't check for it.**

Sora loses his concentration as he's wracked with pain, a large quantity of his body being damaged beyond anything he or even Fushai could heal quickly. This slip in his attention results in Fushai and himself falling from the sky, the temple-like building streaking downwards in their general direction.

 _Yes!_

Sora was thinking something somber, basically the opposite of Draga's celebratory self.

 _Guess that's it for me._

Sora does have the ability to close his eyes, but his vision blurs as he falls to the Earth far far below, seemingly at peace.

Fushai, on the other hand, is far from peaceful. He's thrashing around, trying to slow his decent towards the unwelcoming ground below.

Draga swaps to **Fiery Body** , landing on the also falling temple while leaning over the edge to see the pair from a more relaxed location.

Fushai is unable to even slow his fall by any meaningful speed, so when he eventually crashes into the Earth he simply plows straight down, a man-shaped hole being carved over forty feet below the brand new crater. Sora landed with a bit more grace, only forming a crater due to his own attempts to land in this way.

The temple landed a significant distance away, but the shrapnel blows over a mile from it's impact zone. Draga uses his fiery form to protect himself from the debris before the clouds of dust and flying stone settle down.

Draga steps towards Sora's crater, looking at the somehow alive body of his adversary. The armor over his body is shattered, mostly revealing a really pale young man. He tilts his head to look at Draga, his eyes being shown as a strange yellow. He coughs to clear his throat before speaking.

"At last... Finally... Free..."

His eyes and mouth both close and his nameplate flickers out of existence.

A number of pop-ups appear for him gaining levels, four in total, along with a notification that his quest had been completed.

He walks towards Fushai's crater, pop-ups for his death not having appeared yet. The crater was still dark and silent, implying either his unconsciousness or setting of a trap.

Sending a quick cast of **Pale Lightning** down below, Draga links eyes with the similarly crushed demigod.

Draga's mouth spreads into a broad, slightly-malicious smile. He coats his hand in electricity, increasing the cost to turn it into the destruction element. He drops into the hole, hand and then head first.

When he lands at the bottom, Draga's hand breaks directly through Fushai's skin and into the ground below, his armor being genuinely pulverized from copying a meteor. Fushai spurts blood out onto Draga, who seems unaffected by the viscous fluid.

"You have cursed not only me, but it seems Sora as well. I take satisfaction in killing you."

Fushai saves face from his pain, glaring with unrivaled intensity at Draga. Taking that as a sign that he accepted his fate, Draga swings his still alight hand up towards the mans head, dealing enough damage to end him both through the game and for real. Three more levels pop up, all of which Draga accepts. The quest resolition also appears.

 _Not a bad day of work._

Draga looks around for loot, but is rather displeased that there isn't any. Likely, anything that would be loot is instead shunted into the quest rewards.

Deciding to confirm that idea, Draga leaves the hole as lightning and appears beside Sora.

There was one significant change, and it wasn't loot.

Above Sora's corpse was an identical portal to the one that took him out of the enchanted cave.

 _A new world?_

Draga notes a mental attraction, demanding he move himself into it unlike the previous one which physical pulled him inside.

 _Does that mean I can choose this one? Why would I want a barren wasteland over the interesting place I was at? This new place has got to be better, right?_

For once, Draga lets an impulse drive his actions. He steps, rather tentatively, into the purple mirror-like oval, having confirmed that while flat it does turn with him.

* * *

Draga opens his eyes, the sounds of a forest greeting him. As he sits up, he takes note of how sluggish he feels.

 _Probably some sort of teleportation sickness. I'll give it a minute._

After waiting for quite some time, Draga concludes that it wasn't going away. In his search for why, Draga happens upon his status effect page.

Nothing new.

Unfortunately, there was also nothing old.

 **Tet's Blessing, Disboard Conqueror,** and even the one that made him a Girimasu were all gone.

Confused by this, Draga also checks out his skills page, and finds several decidedly crossed-out, and attempts to use them result in failure. They do, however, result in a new pop-up.

 **Semblance has been blocked until [Aura] reaches level 100!**

 **Hey-oh everybody. I must apologize for the delay, no matter how many times I do it I don't think you'll truly grasp how important it is for me. This fic has been one of the few things keeping the drudgery that is school at bay, and failing a commitment to it is rather disheartening.**

 **On a different note: Some of you had to know this was coming. I blatantly used Aura, referenced Remnant, and even went so far as to use Bai Hu's techniques from the most famous RWBY/Gamer fanfiction to date. Yes: I am moving to RWBY. No, this isn't gonna be a normal RWBY fic, however. I have gotten express permission from Ryuugi to use his take on the series within The Games We Play, and use it for this fic. If anyone wants evidence of this, PM me and I'll see if I can get it to you.**

 **To those who have read it: Awesome. To those that haven't, there's a complete version of it on Spacebattles should you check it out. You can find the first 16 or so chapters on this site as well under the same name.**

 **Besides the transition itself, I won't be spoiling anything, and that includes what abilities were his semblance. Guess you gotta read and find out. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!**


	19. Sanity-3

**As a note for the quests below, if something is underlined that means the quest reward was pointless and thereby not given.**

 **[Quest Completion]**

 **Star Child**

 **You have killed Sora within 24 hours.**

 **Quest rewards: Air skillbook, information on Hokori, information on Fushai.**

 **[Quest Completion]**

 **Just Kidding**

 **You have slain Fushai within 3 months.**

 **Quest Rewards: New world, partial progress carryover.**

 _Wait... I wouldn't have gotten some of my skills to remain unless I beat Fushai and completed some sort of bonus objective? What kinda bullshit is that?_

Glancing as his skills, Draga is rather annoyed at the ones that are crossed out into an invalid state: All of his elemental form skills. With the bonuses from **Tet's Blessing** and **Disboard Conqueror** gone, all of his stats were dramatically reduced as well.

Wait, that mean Eldra's corruption is gone too. DAMMIT! The boosts were so good compared to the drawbacks.

Taking a look at his **Inventory** , Draga notes the absence of most of his gear too. He managed to keep **Babel** , **Lunar Assault Blade** , **Kembar** (Whatever that did), a **Chaos Token** , and **Setan**.

He leaves the pendant and the ring on, since there isn't any reason not to, but leave his sword, mask, and whatever the hell the **Chaos Token** is supposed to be in his inventory.

Doing a final once through of his skills and inventory, Draga notes the absence of a few entire skills. They weren't core to his build, like his elemental states, but it kinda sucked to lose anything at this point. The one with the most relevance was **Language** , which was kind of important should he encounter something that doesn't speak Japanese or his newly learned English.

Draga lets out a sigh before looking around. The forest had suddenly become a lot quieter.

A snarl is heard from behind Draga, the sound oddly distorted by the time dilation. Rapidly turning around, Draga faces against his first enemy.

 **[LVL9]**

 **Beowulf**

 _Oh._ Draga sighs again, but this time out of disappointment rather than exasperation.

The Beowulf charges Draga, who views the beast in slow motion.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Draga starts walking away at a casual pace, something that outruns the thing anyway.

The forest is still silent if not for the beast behind him, so rather than enjoy the scenery, Draga looks for civilization. It would be expected for humans to exist in this realm at least, since he was sent there.

Eventually, Draga gets fed up with the slow-motion running and growling of the Beowulf behind him, and turns around into a punch towards it's snout.

The attack blows it back into and partially through a tree, killing it instantly.

 **You have completed the Achievement [One Punch Man]! One skill point awarded!**

 **[One Punch Man]**

 **Kill an enemy in a single none-empowered punch.**

 _Huh... Time dilation doesn't count as empowering my punch. Good to know._

With the beast gone, the forest soon comes alive with the chirping of birds once again.

 _Peaceful._

It was actually rather nice here, but Draga already knew something was up. Everywhere he went, there was always a problem somewhere.

Draga opens his map, taking a look at it before giving up on its usefullness. It didn't need to be filled out this time, which was nice, but it still gave him no blue dots, which represent people, or names of locations.

"Where the hell am I?"

Giant glowing rainbow arrows appear within his vision, pointing to the green arrow on his map that represents him.

 _Gee... Thanks..._

The arrows twirl out of existence.

Draga examines the map for a moment, looking a the surface for a trace of gray. It was currently zoomed out to the planetary scale, so anything gray showing up would mean a city. He facepalms a moment later, having missed something huge. About five miles away, or at least that's what Draga estimated the distance was, a large chunk of green was a slightly darker and less colorful shade, leading him to believe that while they preserved nature there gray was still a prevalent color.

 _Alright, a place to go._

Draga sets off at a brisk pace towards the area, a massive wall entering his field of view a little over a minute later.

The wall was made of concrete, reinforcing the notion of human civilization in his mind. He triggers his variety of buffs to increase his jump height before leaping up towards the wall.

As he passes over the edge, a yell reaches his ears. Turning his head to the source, Draga notes a soldier of some kind, someone who didn't wear a uniform it seemed, hollering for backup.

Odd thing was, it wasn't English or Japanese, but he could still understand him.

 _Was the skill replaced with multilingualism?_

It wasn't time to worry about that now. According to his nameplate, the guy was level 26 but still lacking a title. _That's a high level for a mook._ It wasn't absurd, but it was worth noticing, that's for certain.

The hollering brings three more fighters, all armed to the teeth and with slight level variances. One of them, actually had a title.

 **[LVL29]**

 **Corbin Linx, The Wall**

 _Fitting title for someone working on a wall._

The men call out to Draga, apparently believing him to speak their language, implying that either their language is very common or the only one.

Luckily, he understands.

"What are you doing here?"

 _Oh yeah, social interaction. I'd almost forgotten._

Draga raises his hands in the universal gesture of surrender, waiting a moment to respond to: A, confirm their acceptance of his surrender, and B, think of what to say.

"I'm returning from a walk."

Draga mentally facepalms. _It's better than nothing, I guess. Since I don't even know where this is, it'd be hard to be more convincing._

The group respond with obvious skepticism, which was to be expected.

"Are you a hunter, then?"

Draga nods, cautiously. He doesn't know what a hunter is, but it's better to let people's imagination fill in the blanks of your backstory when in an unfamiliar location.

The group seem to deflate at that, their tensed muscles returning to their natural state. The leader steps forward, a warm smile blessing his features.

"Well, even if you are a hunter, Ozpin will probably want to speak to you. People aren't supposed to cross the wall without official business."

 _And Ozpin is... Who?_

Obviously he couldn't say that out loud, so Draga simply nods along.

Corbin assigns one of his subordinates to lead him to Ozpin, probably just to make sure Draga saw him. It was pretty convenient, since Ozpin was obviously some authority and he didn't know where he was. _Gotta introduce myself somehow._

Draga's led for quite some time, even riding on an airship of some sort, before he gets to his destination. Having looked at the city for a while, he got a sense for the architecture, and from what he can tell the place he's at is a tower overlooking a college campus.

The man, who introduced himself as Jimmy Piters (Pi(Like 3.14)-ters), leads him to an elevator before turning himself around and leaving. _Already inside, and it seems the secretary already saw me. Guess I gotta go up._

Since the elevator only had two buttons, emergency stop and the like not-withstanding, Draga presses the one with the letter O rather than the number 1. A very brief and slightly jarring trip later, Draga arrives at his stop.

A second passes before the doors open, inviting him into the room. It's a fairly pleasant office with an immaculate panoramic set of windows giving whoever is inside a perfect view of the city. A desk is set opposite the elevator, a chair on the opposite end turned away and one in front of it. Figuring Ozpin was gone, Draga sits down in the guest chair and waits.

And then the chair turns around.

 _But... I know there wasn't anyway in that chair._

A old looking man with practically pure white hair greets Draga with a slight smile.

"Hello."

Draga doesn't respond, a bit taken aback by his nameplate. People with high levels had their exact level hidden, but that so far hadn't stopped him from seeing their titles. Hell, he could see Fushai's title and he was a demigod.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Ozpin, ?**

Ozpin takes his silence as a sign of dumbfounded-ness. He had, after all, just suddenly appeared within his perceptions.

"Why are you here?"

Draga shakes his head to alleviate his confusion, returning to a relatively calm state.

"I was told by someone named Corbin Linx that I wasn't allowed to jump over the wall or take a walk outside it."

Ozpin raises an eyebrow halfway into Draga's statement.

"And they said this why?"

Draga's confusion just wasn't gonna stay gone, was it?

"I don't know. I seem fine, no?"

Ozpin presses his elbows onto his desk, tenting his hands to form a brace for his chin.

"Indeed... Are you a student here?"

"No, no. Self-taught mostly."

It wasn't a lie, which was good since Ozpin was good at catching those.

"How would you like to be?"

Draga deadpans for a moment, the confusion of Ozpins intentions having caused a system reboot.

"You... Want me, a previously unknown person... To go to your school?"

The 'your' school was an assumption, but since Ozpin supposedly had the authority to just get him into the class rotation on a whim it was a more like an educated guess.

"That about sums it up. I can tell you Aura is awakened, and you were able to jump up Vale's wall. Even just those talents can be put to use, and I know that isn't the full list."

 _I swear, this guy is being confusing on purpose._

"What do you mean, you know that isn't the full list?"

Ozpin smiles, seemingly in slow motion. When he speaks, the same effect applies, but Draga can still understand it.

"Because we've been talking in accelerated time."

 _Shit!_

The elephant in the room addressed, Ozpin returns to the rapid pace he was using before.

"That ability right there is more than enough for a scholarship, don't you agree?"

Draga sighs, accepting Ozpins recommendation with a nod.

"Alright then. Initiation is two days from now. Come see me again before then. For now-."

His sentence is interrupted by the elevator doors chiming as they open, revealing a gray-clothed man with unkempt hair and a sword at his hip. It would actually be quite the impressive sight, if not for his obvious drunkedness. The man stumbles into the room, spilling a small portion of his flask while doing so.

Ozpin gestures for Draga to leave, asking for his name before he leaves. Having no reason not to, Draga answers honestly while still getting a personal kick.

"My name is Draga Konungur. Good day, Ozpin."

He finishes the statement just as the elevator door closes, preventing Ozpin from asking how he knew his name. Ozpin actually smiles from that, but his face becomes more serious as he looks towards the other occupant.

"Hello, Qrow."

"Hello, Ozpin."

* * *

Draga starts the relatively short walk to the city of Vale in search of information. In particular, a library would be fabulous. He knew nothing of this world, except that supernatural was apparently normal.

Draga talks to a few people along the way, asking for directions. They helpfully lead him to a rather elegant, almost Gothic, building. Once inside, Draga looks around for a librarian. The building itself is huge, so luckily for him multiple librarians are moving about, fixing this or checking that. Getting the attention of one, Draga asks for the history section.

The male points in a direction, implying that a rather large section of the library is dedicated to history rather than just one of the towering cases. Leaving him to whatever he was doing on the ladder, Draga explores the area for anything that catches his eye. First and foremost, he comes across one called 'Kingdoms for dummies', probably a satirical but easy to grasp book on the kingdoms of this world. As his eyes pass over it, a strange effect blurs out everything he can see besides that book.

 _Is it just me or is some supernatural being insulting my intelligence?_

Draga grabs the book and sits down at a nearby table to enjoy the history for the latest adventure in his life.

Then, six hours later, he stands up because he'd finished it.

 _This was only the more recent years, and it focused more on technology and the schools more than anything else. What kind of history book is this?_

Draga sighs, putting the book back where he found it. It probably didn't belong there, but what did he know.

With an annoyed expression on his face, Draga glances around for another one of those 'pick me' moments. When none happens, he starts looking around legitimately.

Eventually, Draga comes across a shelf with a tag at the top labeled "SBeacon". _S probably means Standard or something along that line._

Taking one of each unique book, Draga slips them into his **Inventory**. Keeping a careful eye on his surroundings, he finishes a moment later with seven new books. It's kind of a shame none of them were skill books, since that would make learning them way easier. Strangely, Draga gets a skill from this.

 **Filch (Active) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to put items directly into ones Inventory.**

 **While picking up an object that doesn't have or isn't in contact with aura, the item may be instead placed directly into the users inventory.**

While normally considered a deadpan, Draga's face has one distinctive difference. It has a palm slammed into it.

 _Stealing is now a skill, and a strong one at that. Of course it is._

Well, at least it got him the books he really needed. Next, to find a place to stay. The librarians might get suspicious if he just chills there for 48 hours straight.

 _The book mentioned a device called a scroll that seems similar to the phones and tablets Sora and Shiro had. I don't need a clock, or map, but as an ID it'd be invaluable. It didn't mention anything about getting one though... Would is be too weird not to have one?_

Draga's face takes another heavy hit from his hand.

 _Damaged beyond repair. Lost. Stolen. Jeez, has it really been this long since I bothered to strategize my human interactions?_

Now the final issue: How to pay for it. This was a capitalist society after all.

The biggest issue was that until he had a scroll, he wasn't a person. If he didn't have one before his next meeting with Ozpin, there'd probably be some complications too.

Draga's HP actually goes down by significant percentage when he smashes his face once again.

 _I literally just got a skill for stealing. How did I ever become smart enough to tie Sora and Shiro? Either my memory is failing me, I'm an idiot, or I'm oblivious. None of those options are good._

While dealing with his mental quandary, Draga sets out to find either a under the counter job or a target for a quick pickpocket.

He finds the job first.

Or rather, the job finds him.

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Candlelight**

 **Roman Torchwick is about to rob a dust store nearby.**

 **Quest Objectives: Either aid or fight against Roman and his men.**

 **Quest Rewards: Reputation with various people and factions, a scroll, ?.**

 **Quest Failure: Death, others die, imprisonment, banishment (Depending on severity of failure and choice).**

 **Y/N**

 _A store that sells dust. Why would such a thing even exist? Well, with the scroll being part of the reward, I might as well, right?_

Draga hits yes, and waits a moment. These things typically appeared shortly before and while nearby the event they describe.

While looking around, Draga finally gets a look in a 'mirror'. Technically, it was a window, but it had the desired effect.

He was different.

He had expected muscular and height changes, stuff like that, from his stat gains, but nothing like this. While his clothes remained the same, his skin color was an absurdly pale color usually reserved for vampires and gods, his hair was an unkempt black mess unlike his normal stylized red main, and his eyes were brown unlike their original blue. He also appeared taller, which he was, but it seemed more than that...

Shaking off the feeling, Draga notices a pop-up from when he looked at his reflection.

 **Use appearance editor?**

 **Y/N**

What could only be described as a boring flashback later, Draga remembers that when he became a Girimasu he unlocked the system thing. He never bothered to use it, since he liked how he looked, but now?

It's gotta go.

Pressing yes, time seems to freeze. In front of him, rather than a reflection, was an actual duplicate of himself. Stepping towards it, Draga notes that it is inanimate.

 _I just think of the edits, right? There's no menu or anything._

Testing his theory, Draga thinks of his old self in his Disboard 'noble' clothes.

The 'dummy' changes to match, becoming his original body.

 _I did want to be taller..._

Draga edits his body, making it what he would be if he ever bothered to eat correctly: A taller and seemingly more muscular version of himself. It wouldn't change his actual strength, but it would make his ridiculous power seem more feasible in this world.

The result is a 6'3" red head that he might have aspired to be if there weren't games to play.

Content with the body, he tries to exit by thinking, and then saying, the following words: escape, exit, end, leave, done, and finished. None of them work, but after a bit of thought he comes up with one that does.

 **Save**.

When he does so, it labels itself 'Appearance 3' before he returns to his original location with that body.

 _Appearance 3. That implied that the practically albino form and the one I had before this world are both saved... Do I need a reflective surface to swap?_

Draga turns away from the glass of the window, thinking the words 'Appearance 1'.

Nothing happens.

Turning to the window, he repeats the thought and after a quick time-frozen animation plays he's returned to where he was in his home body.

Returning to the new one, Draga thinks about the utility being anyone he wants would have. There are probably still ways of identifying him, like fighting styles, so he had to keep those separate if he wanted multiple identities... And his Aura... And his thrice damned blocked semblance...

 _Huh... Masking multiple identities is actually kinda hard._

Equipping his mask, and having it appear on his face, Draga resumes the wait.

Apparently the game thought he was gonna be doing something else for a bit, because nothing happens for a full half hour. He was about to walk away when someone is blasted through the window into his back, knocking him down as well.

Only after the window is shattered does the sounds of battle appear within his ears. _Probably shock-proof glass. What kind of monster shot the guy through it?_

Draga shunts the now unconscious man off of him, standing up to look at the shop behind him. He sees a bunch of armed thugs, mostly in the 10-16 level range, in generally obscuring clothing (Not that it mattered much to a Gamer) and the one responsible for his face-plant.

A red-clad scythe wielding girl in a red battle skirt and corset. While most of the men, who were holding bags of some obviously stolen good, flee the store several stay behind and pin the female down with gunfire.

Based on her nameplate, she was fine.

 **[LVL48]**

 **Ruby Rose, The Red Rider**

Ruby dashes around, disabling without killing the ones shooting at her before she leaps outside the building to continue the assault.

Still just standing there, since he lacks any real motivation to help either side at the moment, Draga looks around.

Ruby continues to deal with the armed men, the ones that haven't evacuated with the loot yet anyway, but with **Clairvoyance** Draga notices a man atop a nearby roof also watching the fight.

 **[LVL42]**

 **Roman Torchwick, Young Money**

 _And so it begins. Evil is typically easier than good, and with the appearance editor I can always do both._

Draga boosts his time-rate to 10x, turning him into a blur as he goes to the roof with the bola-hat wearing man in a white suit.

To his credit, Roman reacts instantly: swinging his cane in a broad stroke at what he thinks of as an adversary.

Draga catches the weapon in his hand, genuinely surprised as the weight of the object but not letting that distract him.

"I'm not here to fight, Roman."

Roman's eyes broaden slightly at the mention of his name, but he otherwise doesn't react to the sentence, instead returning to the 'show'.

"How much would you say this work is worth?"

Roman raises an eyebrow, not that it'd be visible if not for **Clairvoyance** , and taps his cane a few times before replying.

"If you're offering your assistance, I could probably arrange something for you."

Roman turns around, casually walking towards what should have been a hidden airship. It was fairly obvious by his body language that something about Draga set off Roman's nerves. Lacking anything else to say, Draga watches him go for a moment before leaping off the building to the street.

Ruby turns her head to the sudden sound, having dealt with the majority of the goons already, and those that were in decent health were attempting to flee.

"You here to rob the store too?"

It was a fairly straightforward question, but it brings a smile to Draga's masked face.

"Rob the store? Why of course not, my dear Ruby."

Ruby relaxes for a moment before her brain processes what he just said, upon which her entire body seems to tense.

"How-."

"Hush now. Leave the men alone, and all will be fine between us."

 _Being evil is kinda fun. Who knew?_

Her weapon at the ready, Ruby's expression hardens.

"I can't let them get away with it, and you know that, right?"

Draga's hidden smile turns into a smirk.

 _This is gonna be fun._

"Have at yee."

Taking his challenge, Ruby blasts forward in a burst of pedals. If not for his time still being accelerated, he'd have been completely blindsided. As it was, Draga barely managed to dodge the scythe as it swung just in front of him.

Ruby follows up with several more broad strokes, causing Draga to duck to the sides and downward and eventually even leap backwards. Despite the actual stress of the situation, it was rather fun.

"Surely that's not all you can do?"

Ruby replies by flipping the scythe into a upwards swing, which Draga dodges with a backflip, and then firing from the now raised weapon's previously unnoticed barrel.

1000 HP later, Draga's playing it off as nothing. It hurt, don't get him wrong, but compared to a lot shit he'd gone through it was barely noticable. On top of that, the wound did vanish properly.

"Kitty has claws."

Ruby smiles despite the situation, granting a momentary break in her attacks. That was all he really needed.

Draga dashes forward, his hands becoming alight with flame, and he opens a series of close range punches. Adding insult to injury, he'd closed his eyes while doing so, which didn't actually mean much to him since **Clairvoyance** , which was active now since he didn't want anymore surprises like the sniper rifle popping up, allowed him to see through his eyelids.

In the back of his perceptions, Draga notes an airship taking flight.

 _Better keep track of him._

Kicking off the ground away from Ruby, who was currently putting out a variety of small cinders on her clothing, Draga turns to look at the airship.

He had planned to board it, but it was already on it's way in an attempt to escape some blonde woman named Glynda who was on the roof. He witnessed her fire... Uh... Something? It seemed like magic, but what kind was beyond Draga. Someone cloaked in shadows, dense enough to be unrecognizable, deflects the attack before the ship speeds off into the distance.

Next thing Draga knows, he's on the floor with a boot on top of it.

 _I REALLY need to develop **Clairvoyance** to include 360 degrees of vision._

 **'Ello lads. Been a whole... Two days since my last chapter. I literally just made up for all the last time I was complaining about... Huh.**

 **Anyway, I will be making an effort to make the next few chapters faster even with that complete, albeit not this fast. My schedule simply wouldn't permit it.**

 **Just a few notes for his profile: I will no longer be counting empty equipment slots. This is to help dull any possible accusations of inflating my chapters, which since his profile before the shift of losing a bunch of crap was half the chapters it was put it... Those claims would be pretty reasonable.**

 **Second, there is no strikethrough, so stuff that would be in instead underlined.**

 **Lastly, I just realized I forgot to level up Pale Lightning all those times... Whoops.**

 **Without further ado, Draga's new profile page.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 4002**

 **MP: 39750**

 **Str: 26(39.26)**

 **Vit: 53(80.03)**

 **Dex: 18(27.995)**

 **Int: 100(151)**

 **Wis: 50(125.5)**

 **Luk: 20(20)**

 **Points: 55**

 **Height: 5'5''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL13 EXP 14.51% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 13**

 **Current total affinity: 15.86**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 3 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:8%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL22 EXP: 13.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 22%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 66 or 11%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL33 EXP:27.93% MP:5500, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 100 minutes.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL39 EXP: 14.00% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 810 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .1% status.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.**

 **Imposes or removes emotional status effects on a target.**

 **Max status level: Low.**

 **This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Unlocks emotional state for Observe.**

 **Blind Fist Mastery (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 10.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage.**

 **Passively reduces sound and scent emitted by 50%.**

 **Actively increases effectiveness of all martial arts by 13%. Double effect if a Blind Fist attack.**

 **Actively increases Dex and Str by 5.**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Darkness is the absence of light, so if you control light you also control darkness. Gelap is the power to control light in an area and specifically cause it to cease.**

 **Removes 4% of light in a cubic meter.**

 **Can be stacked in an area.**

 **Can have any number of simultaneous casts.**

 **Stampede (Active) LVL9 EXP: 38.20%% MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 116%.**

 **Increase charging force by 116%.**

 **Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL13 EXP: 9.78% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The foot technique for fast movement in combat intended for an ancient martial arts style.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 5%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 20% when active.**

 **Claws of the Tiger (Active) LVL13 EXP: 43.51% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The most basic technique of an ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **36% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.14% MP:100**

 **A technique central to an ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **52% increase to jumping distance.**

 **26% increase to movement speed.**

 **26% increase to attack damage.**

 **Applies to a single action.**

 **Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL5 EXP: 48.29% MP:1000**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Changes your voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Up to 940% increase in volume for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 5% of current level.**

 **Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL9 EXP: 18.95% MP: 200, 200 per minute**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. This is the penultimate technique of his followers.**

 **116% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **116% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **116% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 200 HP used per minute.**

 **Clairvoyance (Active) LVL8 EXP: 61.51% MP: 50**

 **An ability given to those with the natural ability to clearly perceive the world through forms of Extrasensory Perception. Takes the form of enhanced visual acuity and perception beyond the limits of normal eyesight, as well as optical interpretation of information. Range, breadth, and visual processing increase with skill level, INT, and through related abilities.**

 **Additional 50 MP used per minute.**

 **Chaos Storm (Passive and Active) LVL19 EXP: 14.52% MP:10000, 1000 per second**

 **The ability to cause a storm of of the elements. The damage type and cause are dependent on the user's elemental affinities.**

 **Passively boosts all elemental affinities already owned by 5.**

 **Creates a storm around or near the user of a combination of all current elemental affinities. Only the user is immune to damage from the storm.**

 **Damage scales with Int, Skill LVL, and total elemental affinities.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 18.32% MP:Variable**

 **The user has gained enlightenment on the formation and structure of mana. The user can transfer mana between objects with ease, creating a bridge of energy, or disperse mana with his own.**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50%**

 **Actively allows MP transfer between self and other with 2m range.**

 **Actively can disperse anothers MP at a ratio of 1000:4**

 **Can disperse one's own mana into the atmosphere.**

 **Fire (Passive) LVL48 EXP 50.15% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 48**

 **Current total affinity: 89.06**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to maintain casts while unconscious.**

 **Have an ability that either has a duration or is toggled and having it active when put to sleep causes Sleep Casting to trigger.**

 **Abilities can be continued while asleep for a 50% increase in net price.**

 **Flaming Prison** **(Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a field of fire. This field feeds on the fires within the radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The ability to coat ones body or weapon in flames. These flames do not injure the caster, but can damage the user's equipment.**

 **Coats any amount of the users body and equipment that they choose in fire. If flammable material is coated in flames, the spell may use it as fuel to halve the cost.**

 **Fiery Body (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 0.00% MP:985, 985 per minute**

 **The ability**

 **Passively increases taken water based damage by 10%.**

 **Passively reduces cutting damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all stats by 10% in a hot or dry environment.**

 **Passively increases fire affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves fire based damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into fire, granting complete immunity to increasing temperature, the ability to create flames on surfaces within 20m for 1000 MP, and a form immune to physical damage.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to combine elemental abilities for greater effect.**

 **Whenever an elemental ability is comparable to another they can be cast at the same time with new effects for 1000x the mana cost.**

 **Affinities for mixed elements are the average of the combined base affinities.**

 **By combining Fiery Body and Electrical Silhouette the skill [Destruction Silhouette] has been created!**

 **Destruction Silhouette (Passive and Active)** **LVL2 EXP: 4.61% MP:99500 per second**

 **The ability to transform into an aspect of pure destruction, gaining the powers that would come with it.**

 **Passively increases taken damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all terrain damaging effects by 10%**

 **Passively increases fire and lightning affinities by 10.**

 **Passively increases total damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into a contained maelstrom of energy. Allows 360 degree flight at running speed and grants immunity to physical damage.**

 **While in this form, the user is able to intentionally disintegrate materials with a touch.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.**


	20. Sanity-4

Draga sighs. _Well, I guess prison will give me plenty of time to grind my way out. Once I escape, I can always just change appearance._

Ruby holds her position for a rather brief moment, giving Glynda the opportunity to reach them.

"You two, come with me."

She accentuates her statement by pointing at each person and where she's walking and a crack of her weapon... Whatever it is. Since he'd never encountered the strange tool, Draga uses **Observe** on it.

 **Riding Crop  
**

 **A dustcaster used by Glynda Goodwitch to use a variety of elemental and telekinetic attacks. Also usable as a melee weapon.**

 _Okay... Still have no idea what that means._

Ruby takes her foot off of Draga's head, much to his satisfaction, and follows the woman by walking backwards in order to make sure Draga does the same.

 _Nevermind, then._

Draga spends as much mana as possible, which is a healthy 39000 MP, on **Acceleration** , triggering his **Aura** and it's lightning elemental equivalent before getting the fuck out of dodge.

Even to Ruby, who has adapted to her insane speed to process visual input faster, simply sees a blur as Draga spends his energy trailblazing. A real-time second later, Draga is slightly over one and a half miles away and out of mana.

Panting, and out of breath, Draga collapses on the floor. What was no time to most was almost a minute of full on sprinting, and it seemed **Gamer's Body** was gonna be slow on patching anything not injury related. At least actual exhaustion was prevented by one of his skills, but it was still an unfortunate side effect of his actions.

 _At least I got away._

With the distance achieved, it was unlikely anyone managed to track him to... Wherever he is.

It was around this time Draga bothered to survey his surroundings. Graffiti coating the walls of the rundown apartments and streets filled with garbage, it was an obvious slum. Despite his electrical affinity being high, at least he felt that way, the electrical sense he acquired from it seems to be gone, so he couldn't tell if anyone was nearby.

 _The sense was probably linked to **Electrical Silhouette**... _

Either way, with no obvious goal for the moment, Draga is essentially left with nothing to do.

 _I should probably find Torchwick and get payed for that. Even if I didn't defeat Ruby or Glynda, I delayed their approach enough for his escape and protected a few of his men._

Pulling up his map Draga checks for anything he could use to find Roman. Unfortunately, nothing shows up.

"Well how the hell am I supposed to finish the quest then?"

Have you ever been trolled? Like, repeatedly and hard for days on end? No? Good. This kind of shit breaks people.

 **[Quest Complete]**

 **Candlelight**

 **Roman Torchwick has robbed the nearby store.**

 **Aid Roman and his lackeys: +.**

 **Quest Rewards: Increases of 10 reputation with Roman Torchwick, 1 reputation with Cinder Fall, 24 with Lind Taylor, and 100 with Ozpin, a scroll, a meeting with an unknown Mozirek.**

Now, as much as the quest being completed was nice, it was still a troll. It was like that hidden block with a leaf or feather in Mario needed to beat a level.

Draga just stares at the notification, genuinely wondering if Tet was messing with him or some other slightly more sinister god. It would make sense; he is in another world, after all. Maybe an entire pantheon of almighty beings is deciding his fate.

Or maybe it was just one, trying to tell a interesting story for the other 'gods'.

 _Where did that come from?_

Still, the message did bring up a few questions. Who was Cinder Fall or Lind Taylor? Why did he get more reputation with Ozpin of all people from it than Roman? Maybe most importantly, the fuck was a 'Mozirek'?

Draga sighs due to the lack of answers. An entire minute has passed since his arrival and his MP and HP had maxed out a bit ago, which was nice, and his mind was clear. Checking his inventory, Draga pulls out the skillbook for **Air** that he never bothered using after his fight with Sora and the newly acquired 'scroll'.

Absorbing the book, Draga acquires the fairly obvious ' **Air** ' skill. Like you didn't figure that out already.

The scroll on the other hand, was a fairly complicated device.

Draga opens the white phone-like machine, examining the semi-transparent screen. A moment passes before it lights up, a series of standard issue icons for apps and basic functions filling a portion of the screen.

 _I wonder..._

Draga pulls the 'handle' further apart, spreading the screen further. Looking at it, the device didn't seem to have the space within to even store the six or so inch wide screen it was using before, much less the full size he got it to of a foot.

 _Is this a standard issue thing, or is mine just better that way?_

Best guess was special, evidence for this coming up from the top of the UI. Where the battery symbol would normally have a % symbol was instead the character for infinity, and where the 'internet' symbol, something Sora and Shiro mentioned his planet not having but at least described the basics of, was a similarly marked radio-dish.

As much as it was nice, it felt a little misused on him. What was he gonna do with it? Probably nothing. Just as he was about to shove it into his inventory, a blaring noise assaults his senses. He could tell it wasn't from the scroll, but only because it seemed to come from everywhere.

A split second after it starts, a big fat black pop-up appears, identical to the new one on his scroll, with an accept and decline for a call.

Rapidly pressing call to end the insufferable alarm, Draga's scroll and the game window turn to a video call with... Someone.

It was rather odd. He could see the man, and even people like Ozpin had their name placed on the nameplate.

This guy... Didn't.

 **[ERROR]**

And that was it.

No level, no name, and no question marks. Nothing.

A creeping feeling that started upon seeing it was only pushed further when, rather than be vague or have more question marks, **Observe** simply fails to appear.

The character takes a step back from whatever he was using to make the call, revealing his full form.

The 6' 6" or so man could only be described as unholy. He had spiral ram horns coming out the sides of his skull, purple runes wrapped around them, dark gray feathered wings, a wide variety of scars over what was revealed of his body, eyes that could only be described as static, golden armor that wrapped around his body in very loose very revealing fashion, up until they reached into black pants or his cloak anyway, and another series of purple markings covering his otherwise well tanned normal skin.

"Hey there. Heard there was another Gamer or something. Take it that's you?"

 _That might save me a headache later, but it brings up a lot of questions... Fuck questions. I need more answers in life._

"Yes."

The figure nods along enthusiastically, seemingly upbeat despite his intimidating form.

"Good. I was told to be a shopkeeper or something? Gods really need to be more specific."

The man continues, but the volume and tone turn to that of a mumble, still audible but it's important to note.

"Which is why I'm glad I'm not one... Anyway, I figured I should let you know. The scroll should have a call back feature, so feel free to use that."

Draga, not mentioning that he wasn't technically using the scroll right now, asks something of the... Mozirek? It had to be, right?

"Who are you?"

Draco raises an eyebrow at that, clearly confused by something.

"Can't you see my name above my head? The last Gamer I met could do that."

Draga lets out a brief sigh, which transforms into a mild chuckle.

"Nope. Just shows an error where your level would be and an empty area for the name and title."

"Ah... Well, Xander had some oddities with my status too. Like, I had two titles, a name I don't have, and a level labeled as 'Variable.'"

Draga rubs his temples, having at least slight difficulty with the information density it had. It not only implied future mechanics, systemic issues with the game, and the relationship of Xander and Draco, but it also called to question whether anything was reliable. He'd already brought up and practically confirmed that gods were changing parts of his world.

This was gonna give him a headache despite his powers, and he knew it.

Draga cycles through the information, storing it for later, before turning back to the slightly perturbed 'man'.

"So... You know Xander?"

Draco nods.

"Yeah, I helped him get about halfway through a dungeon type thing I own. He might have told you about it, the Enchanted Cave."

Draga's expression freezes, all motion his body was passively doing also stopping.

 _So it's your fault I went through all that shit._

"He may have mentioned it, once."

Now was not the time to even annoy the man. If his level varied enough for it to simply say 'Variable' instead of changing levels the values themselves, he had to be ridiculously powerful. Yes, it was that, not the fact the guy was almost certainly a demon and had the appearance of one. Nope.

"You should check it out sometime. It's constantly changing."

Draga internally grimaces. Randomness was always an issue for him in games since perfect strategy or no, you could lose with truly random elements. Magic, lacking formulae like everything physical does, could potentially reach true randomness.

"I'll keep it in mind. You mentioned being a shopkeeper. What do you sell?"

Draco laughs, scratching the top of his head with one arm as it decays to a mild chuckle.

"Mostly booze, actually. I am a barkeep by profession. Technically, though, I could get my hands on anything in the omniverse. I'd simply need the specifics of what it is and payment. I'm down to help you, but if the gods force me to open shop, I'm getting payed."

Draga nods, totally getting where Draco was coming from. Some games, mostly ERPG's (Elven RPG) like Last Dream 1-13 or Disbound, had gods or god like beings shunt all their responsibilities on you, and then do nothing to help you. It was most annoying in a none ERPG game called Legend of Link Connection To The Past where a simple man was 'destined' to do everything the spirits were supposed to do and save the Queendom.

Anyway, with the understanding in mind, Draga questions the man further.

"Anything in the Omniverse? So... There are all dimensions?"

"Well, all is a bit misleading. There are so many dimensions that I can't explore them all with my infinite lifespan."

"A number larger than infinity?"

Draco shakes his head vehemently.

"No, an infinity larger than infinity. If you want, I can describe the math behind it later."

"Yeah, it probably won't matter much anyway. I'm almost sure to die before I explore an infinite number of dimensions."

 **For those that want a explanation of variable size infinities, one can be found at the very end (after character sheet) of this chapter.**

"So yeah, I think that's my job. Just use the callback function to talk to me anytime. I don't know how our relative timescapes work since we're in differing dimensions, but it seems to be working now at least."

Closing the call with his physical scroll, since he couldn't find an option on the window the game made up, Draco's face fades from view.

 _I really need to find the guy in charge of this bullshit. Throwing shit around willy nilly is not proper story structure, dammit!_

Draga sighs, putting the scroll in his **Inventory** before walking off. First order of business was to find a mirror-like surface, something hard to do in the rundown sections of town.

After a few minutes of a genuinely calming stroll, Draga comes across a building with in tact clean windows, looking at it and equipping the form he met Ozpin with. He was actually glad to be free of the prior form. There was something odd about being in your own body, when it also wasn't, something only more confusing when you considered how comfortable he was being in a completely foreign body: The one he was given by the game.

Shaking off a strange stiff sensation that came with the transformation, Draga removes his mask as well. Wouldn't do to have Goodwitch or Ruby find someone with an identical mask to a prior enemy, especially since a quick glance confirmed almost nobody else had any obscuring articles on, and those that did were obviously hunters.

It could be surmised by his clothing, a lack of a weapon, and hitherto unknown ID that he wasn't one.

 _Ozpin will be fixing that when I go the his military boot camp of a school, right?_

Not like it mattered much. If Ozpin forgot, or he was otherwise unable to get Draga into the system, his abilities should let him hack it on the streets. Not needing food, water, and probably shelter went a long way towards homeless living.

Out of the few things that worried him, only one really stood out at the moment.

Gods had control over many things among their worlds, and their influence clearly spread to this one. Does that mean he could never truly escape when shit hits the fan?

Draga turns away from the window he was looking into... And see's nothing. At least, no people.

It wasn't as if he'd imagined them or anything. Where there were cars in the reflection, there were now stopped and empty cars. Where a person was walking some monstrous dog, there was now a giant leash on the ground.

A sound goes off in the distance, vaguely similar to that of wrenching steel, but as if the steel wasn't properly resisting the motion. The sound gets louder, the source either growing or coming closer.

Draga multiplies his time to run away, but it didn't seem to matter as a moment later the glass from the skyscrapers and apartment buildings near him blow past him towards a point somewhere in the distance, shortly followed by what seems to be a stream of steel which is leached off the interior beams of the many buildings.

The material flowed through the air and along the ground, apparently heating up along the way since it began glowing a mild red, implying a temp. above 977 degrees Fahrenheit since every material in the world started glowing slightly at that level.

It was all rather eerie, since none of the movements seemed directed at him. Glass did blow past him, even giving him a number of mild cuts, but it didn't cause anything worth worrying about.

That left him with... Nothing. Excluding control over metal and glass, Draga still knew jack about this new figure.

 _Might as well follow the obvious trail._

Draga uses **Phantom Visions** over himself in a way that would make him invisible to things with really low Wis. Unfortunately, with the % it was at now, unless it was some sort of elemental Ogre, it was gonna see right through it.

Draga finally edges his way around a wooden building near the center of the storm, the glass having reached a similar temperature as the metal and forming molten slivers rather than the shards it started at. The many, many attacks he suffered leveled his durability skills quite a bit as he was using them to weather the fury it entailed.

And, in all likelihood, the center of the storm was in the same boat.

It was difficult to see through the maelstrom of glass at the center, the particles clogging the distance between he and his target massively. Luckily, he had just enough vision that it didn't matter.

 _God I love **Observe**. I don't say that enough._

 **Jaune Arc**

 **The Gamer from his universe, Jaune mastered the arts of elementalism and information gathering.**

 **Race: Questionable.**

 **Emotional state: Bored.**

And there he was, another Gamer. He didn't seem to have noticed him, too busy being shredded by molten glass and metal by his guess.

 _Is that broken way to grind durability skills or something? Seems painful._

Draga approaches from the side in an attempt to avoid the worst of the meditating mans training method. He may have some fairly broken skills, but it wasn't smart to take needless damage.

From a few feet away, Draga calls out the man over the howl of the... Is it wind if it's made out of molten glass?

"Where did everyone go?"

Jaune doesn't twitch, implying that he hadn't heard him, something rather reasonable considering the circumstances. As such, Draga asks again with **Tigers Roar** empowering his volume.

Jaune flinches, his voice being only a potential cause. It would be rather odd if, among molten shrapnel and constant meditation, his voice was the cause of his movement.

"Hello?"

Jaune flinches again, the glass and metal slowing gradually to a stop where it falls harmlessly to the floor. Jaune stands up, glass pulling itself from his flesh to reveal no injuries.

"Don't speak so loudly. I hear everything."

 _He's kidding, right?_

"And I'm not kidding."

 _He's reading my mind?_

"And no, I'm not reading your mind. You're just highly predictable, especially for someone I just met. Hello, Draga."

Draga's expectations for this meeting totally thrown out the window, he returns to the original question without his volume enhancement.

"So, where is everyone?"

Jaune smirks, chuckling to himself once while closing his eyes. When he opens them, a new light is present within them, one similar to aura but needlessly brighter.

"You'll see."

Jaune fades from view, seeming to go invisible, and a moment later the world Draga was in shattered, revealing the normal one behind it. He was in the middle of the road, pedestrians meandering about, although a few did give him odd looks for a moment before shrugging it off.

It was rather confusing what exactly just happened. The world around him was in tact, all the buildings previously destroyed by Jaune being perfectly in tact.

 _Definitely an alternate dimension, but how? The materials were obviously there, and since I moved it wasn't some sort of hallucination type thing... Is it actually duplicating all the none-living things in the world?_

Man, if only Draga had the skill. But he didn't. Sucks to suck.

Filing everything he'd seen into it's own little cubby in his brain, Draga walks out of the middle of the road and starts a search for a place to train. Wherever Jaune was would have been perfect, but with no way to track the guy and no way to create the space himself, he was shit out of luck.

 _I can always make my own luck._

Taking a glance at his profile, Draga notes that he could get **Luk** , **Str** , or **Dex** to a 50, but not two of them. Without a way to train **Luk** , he opts for that one.

 _What's the worst that could happen?_

Fucking terrible, that's what.

 **By increasing Luk to 50 the skill [RNG] has been created!**

 **By increasing Luk to 50 the skill [Fallen Sky] has been created!**

 **RNG (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The games influence over the world has grown, now being able to influence events.**

 **Increases random encounter rate.**

 **Increases event rate.**

 **Increases character encounter rate.**

 **Fallen Sky (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The games influence over the world has grown, now being able to affect enemies.**

 **Increases rate of powerful enemy encounters.**

 **Increases level of enemies encountered.**

 **Increases random rewards from encounters.**

 **Actively allows the user to get a general omen for the next 24 hours when they wake up. This omen acts as a warning rather than a foretelling.**

Okay, it wasn't all bad. _It's still fucking terrible though._

The skills basically stated two things.

One: that the games idea of luck, the thing he just boosted massively, was making him fight stronger and more preposterous enemies.

And two: That he just wasted thirty points.

 _Fantastic._

There wasn't much to really say. He had 30 hours or so to grind before his meeting with Ozpin, and his own skills threw a wrench into any attempt at peace with which to do so.

Draga lets out a sigh, pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

 _Might as well get started._

Draga uses **Accelerate** and **Lightning Aura** continuously throughout the night, his legs caught in a perpetual cycle of motion. He'd lost the armor he used as weights in the transition, which blew, so he couldn't strength train at the moment, but with his lackluster **Dex** it was honestly better to just focus it back up to a useful level.

* * *

Draga was on the floor, his lungs trying to force themselves up his throat to escape. It seemed whatever cruel deity decided he'd lose his progress made a few more tweaks, like exhaustion for example. He didn't feel a thing for the first four hours of running, and then the feeling hit like a truck and forced him to the ground.

It only took a few minutes to recover like this, wheezing out every breath he was now forced to take, but it was genuine agony. Pain had nothing on suffocation and extreme exhaustion, it seemed.

At least he'd profited from the endeavor, more than he actually expected too.

 **Through continuous exercise your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Vit has increased by 1!**

 **Through continuous exercise your Vit has increased by 1!**

It would slow down of course, but in terms of getting him back to near 100 **Dex** , he was on his way.

It was also nice to know that just long term running would buff his **Vit** since it was probably linked to the exhaustion mechanic which he'd have to be wary of in the future.

What really sucked is this wasn't even counting the status effects one of his skills, the exercise related **Physical Endurance** , prevented from happening. It'd be far less tolerable and probably last longer with everything combined.

In an effort to avoid the effect, Draga would spent some time 'resting' but using his more magical skills. It attracted some attention, but the hunters did some really weird crap so most people ignored him as long as he remained quiet.

The remainder of the night was uneventful, but it did profit another two **Dex**.

A few hours after sunrise, Draga just continuing his run, Draga is stopped by a pair of hunters.

 **[LVL78]**

 **Cardinal Mars, The Phoenix-born**

 **[LVL79]**

 **Ashen Snow, The Honorary Blade Master**

 _People with strange names?! They exist?! In a fantasy world!?_

Joking aside, they were fairly normal... Except for their level, title, and equipment.

Serenity was a slender woman wearing an orange jumpsuit under pale-blue light body armor and wielding a weapon he couldn't even conceive of what it did. It looked like a really large version of a multi-tool with a bunch of strange holes and spikes sticking out of it which he assumed were for gripping the bizarre contraption.

Ashen, meanwhile, was wearing a solid white and almost entirely obscuring cloak. With the exception of his face, which was plain if not for a small scar on his left cheek, the only thing revealed despite the cloak was a really weird looking sword. It had two blades coming out of a single handle, both blades having a proper guard. It seemed far more usable than what his partner was running around with, but still impractical.

"We got a call about some guy running around Vale for 8 hours straight as a preposterous speed. Care to explain yourself?"

"I've just been training, as you might expect."

Ashen steps forward, a scroll in hand.

"Hold yours out. Check your ID really quick. Standard procedure when dealing with Hunters."

Draga rubs his temple with his palm for a moment, preparing himself for a somewhat complex maneuver.

When his hand leaves his head, he sends it spinning against his still open **Inventory** , moving that behind him and downward. As he reaches behind himself, presumably to grab it out of a pocket, he instead reaches into his inventory and pulls the scroll out.

Tension from having to fake that being on hand gone, Draga holds it out to the man. A moment passes before a notification pops up on Ashen's screen.

"Alright. You are-."

Ashen flips out his blade with his free hand, swinging it in Draga's direction.

 **Hey-oh everybody. Sorry if this took longer than expected. Trying to act out a character you didn't create and aren't changing is rather hard, and I spent a while trying to come up with a way to make both Jaune's and Draco's introductions feel natural. Unfortunately, neither character would really seek out company. Ryuugi's version of Jaune at this point was an information gathering god who bullshits his way through levels of conflict far higher than Draga's own, which makes them interacting on a ordinary basis trip at the first hurdle with two broken kneecaps and fireside-poker lodged in his head, and Draco would have no reason to visit the dimension again.**

 **So... Gods. I had already tried to establish that things were intentionally fucking with him in the past, so I just made it blat him in the face with a rake to solve my problems. Poor Draga.**

 **On a totally different note... Please review. Seriously. I need criticism, I need problems pointed out, and most of all I need general feedback.**

 **I will be editing the first chapter from now on to contain all replies to reviews. I think it would make more sense since people would need to read really far in to get my counter/resolution/reasoning on anything. Keep that in mind.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 4153**

 **MP: 39750**

 **Str: 26(39.26)**

 **Vit: 55(83.05)**

 **Dex: 18(40.045)**

 **Int: 100(151)**

 **Wis: 50(125.5)**

 **Luk: 50(50)**

 **Points: 25**

 **Height: 5'5''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL13 EXP 14.51% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 13**

 **Current total affinity: 15.86**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 3 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:8%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL22 EXP: 13.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 22%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 66 or 11%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL33 EXP:27.93% MP:5500, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 100 minutes.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL40 EXP: 86.92% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 800 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .1% status.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.**

 **Imposes or removes emotional status effects on a target.**

 **Max status level: Low.**

 **This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Unlocks emotional state for Observe.**

 **Blind Fist Mastery (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 10.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage.**

 **Passively reduces sound and scent emitted by 50%.**

 **Actively increases effectiveness of all martial arts by 13%. Double effect if a Blind Fist attack.**

 **Actively increases Dex and Str by 5.**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Darkness is the absence of light, so if you control light you also control darkness. Gelap is the power to control light in an area and specifically cause it to cease.**

 **Removes 4% of light in a cubic meter.**

 **Can be stacked in an area.**

 **Can have any number of simultaneous casts.**

 **Stampede (Active) LVL9 EXP: 38.20%% MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 116%.**

 **Increase charging force by 116%.**

 **Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL13 EXP: 9.78% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The foot technique for fast movement in combat intended for an ancient martial arts style.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 5%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 20% when active.**

 **Claws of the Tiger (Active) LVL13 EXP: 43.51% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The most basic technique of an ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **36% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.14% MP:100**

 **A technique central to an ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **52% increase to jumping distance.**

 **26% increase to movement speed.**

 **26% increase to attack damage.**

 **Applies to a single action.**

 **Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL5 EXP: 48.29% MP:1000**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Changes your voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Up to 940% increase in volume for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 5% of current level.**

 **Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL9 EXP: 18.95% MP: 200, 200 per minute**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. This is the penultimate technique of his followers.**

 **116% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **116% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **116% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 200 HP used per minute.**

 **Clairvoyance (Active) LVL8 EXP: 61.51% MP: 50**

 **An ability given to those with the natural ability to clearly perceive the world through forms of Extrasensory Perception. Takes the form of enhanced visual acuity and perception beyond the limits of normal eyesight, as well as optical interpretation of information. Range, breadth, and visual processing increase with skill level, INT, and through related abilities.**

 **Additional 50 MP used per minute.**

 **Chaos Storm (Passive and Active) LVL19 EXP: 14.52% MP:10000, 1000 per second**

 **The ability to cause a storm of of the elements. The damage type and cause are dependent on the user's elemental affinities.**

 **Passively boosts all elemental affinities already owned by 5.**

 **Creates a storm around or near the user of a combination of all current elemental affinities. Only the user is immune to damage from the storm.**

 **Damage scales with Int, Skill LVL, and total elemental affinities.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 18.32% MP:Variable**

 **The user has gained enlightenment on the formation and structure of mana. The user can transfer mana between objects with ease, creating a bridge of energy, or disperse mana with his own.**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50%**

 **Actively allows MP transfer between self and other with 2m range.**

 **Actively can disperse anothers MP at a ratio of 1000:4**

 **Can disperse one's own mana into the atmosphere.**

 **Fire (Passive) LVL48 EXP 50.15% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 48**

 **Current total affinity: 89.06**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to maintain casts while unconscious.**

 **Have an ability that either has a duration or is toggled and having it active when put to sleep causes Sleep Casting to trigger.**

 **Abilities can be continued while asleep for a 50% increase in net price.**

 **Flaming Prison** **(Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a field of fire. This field feeds on the fires within the radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The ability to coat ones body or weapon in flames. These flames do not injure the caster, but can damage the user's equipment.**

 **Coats any amount of the users body and equipment that they choose in fire. If flammable material is coated in flames, the spell may use it as fuel to halve the cost.**

 **Fiery Body (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 0.00% MP:985, 985 per minute**

 **The ability to transform ones body into fire.**

 **Passively increases taken water based damage by 10%.**

 **Passively reduces cutting damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all stats by 10% in a hot or dry environment.**

 **Passively increases fire affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves fire based damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into fire, granting complete immunity to increasing temperature, the ability to create flames on surfaces within 20m for 1000 MP, and a form immune to physical damage.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to combine elemental abilities for greater effect.**

 **Whenever an elemental ability is comparable to another they can be cast at the same time with new effects for 1000x the mana cost.**

 **Affinities for mixed elements are the average of the combined base affinities.**

 **Destruction Silhouette (Passive and Active)** **LVL2 EXP: 4.61% MP:99500 per second**

 **The ability to transform into an aspect of pure destruction, gaining the powers that would come with it.**

 **Passively increases taken damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all terrain damaging effects by 10%**

 **Passively increases fire and lightning affinities by 10.**

 **Passively increases total damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into a contained maelstrom of energy. Allows 360 degree flight at running speed and grants immunity to physical damage.**

 **While in this form, the user is able to intentionally disintegrate materials with a touch.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.**

 **I just realized I forgot to put this here.**

 **Well, here is a overly complicated math explanation.**

 **Normally, infinity can't be surpassed. Take a square with 5 feet length and width. A line 1 inch long has the same amount of points occupied.**

 **Here's how you prove it. Divide the line into the infinite points that occupy it, in full decimal form. Take the numbers and sort them like this.**

 **Point=0.58195018**

 **X=.5151**

 **Y=.8908**

 **So, X-Y-X-Y on and on. That fills a 1x1 inch square perfectly. Then, multiply all the values by 60, turning it into a 5'x5' square.**

 **This is called blob infinity, and it is the smallest form of infinity. It proves that any spacial measurement besides a single point occupies the same number of points as every other measurement.**

 **As I said, though, it is the smallest infinity.**

 **There are infinite numbers between 1 and 2, yeah? That's essentially blob infinity. Then there's true infinity, which is all the numbers. All of them. Both have the same value, if you use the logic behind blob infinity, but if you lined them up in order, true infinity is larger, but only because it represents a different kind of scale. It's like the difference between a ray, which is infinite, and all of space.**


	21. Sanity-5

**I updated Sanity-4 to actually have the infinity explanation at the bottom. I only just realized I forgot to actually put it in... Derp. Hope you don't mind a math lesson.**

The blade slashes directly past the area Draga's head occupied a moment ago, something new replacing it: a Beowulf. The beast collapses on the ground next to them, killed dead by the attack.

Draga stumbles backwards from his split second duck, catching his balance around the time he notices the newly slain Grimm.

Ashen pulls his weapon back under his cloak, a little click sounding out as a sign it was clipped to something. The weapon sliced perfectly through the creatures skull, so much so it wasn't even bloody and nor was his cloak as he offers a gloved hand to Draga.

"Sorry about that. Sure you understand."

While internally Draga was pissed, though not an Ashen, Draga's body language was that of a person that wasn't just attacked on two fronts.

"Yeah..."

Ashen moves his hand, pointing out that Draga still hadn't shaken it. First impressions already out the backdoor and trying to get some of his dignity back, Draga accepts it in a somewhat unnecessarily firm way.

Ashen doesn't seem to notice, though as he pulls his hand away without flinching or commenting on it. _Is it normal? These people do have super-strength and stuff._

Since it wasn't really that important to understand handshake etiquette for the time being, Draga doesn't say anything about it either.

Cardinal's expression changes to one of impatience.

"Look, it's fine to train, but don't do it in the middle of town. Got it?"

Draga nods, thinking of where he should do it then. There was obviously large forests and the like inside the walls, but he'd seen cabins or other similar buildings within their reaches. Do they count as town?

He couldn't exactly ask, either, since it would be rather suspicious for a hunter not to know a local training area somewhere. He'd have to wait till the meeting with Ozpin for that.

 _That would be later today, actually._

It was just starting to become morning, a little over a day and a half past his original meeting with the headmaster.

With only a little time to kill, Draga sets off towards the campus.

* * *

Draga collapses on the ground, the bloody exhaustion mechanic apparently considering climbing a rock wall to be far more energy consuming than sprinting at 7 or so times speed for several hours straight.

Only around half an hour had passed on that mountainside, but it was enough.

"GAAAH!"

For someone used to not having this kind of system, he was woefully unprepared for both being exhausted and the sudden explosion hitting him from somebody above.

Draga rolls away from the source, coughing out some of the smoke from the blast.

 _What kind of idiot blows people up like that?_

Taking a glance at where the explosion came from, Draga is suddenly glad he had used the appearance editor.

 **[LVL48]**

 **Ruby Rose, The Red Rider**

 **[LVL45]**

 **Weiss Schnee, The Ice Princess**

The quick glance revealed the two people, seemingly unhurt by the explosion despite the caked-on layer of dust and burned metal. They are coughing it out however, smoke apparently being a greater threat than an whatever the blast was from.

Draga takes the opportunity to gtfo, as it were. Still on the ground, Draga rolls off the ledge back onto the cliffside, handily escaping detection but the irate white haired girl and Draga's former adversary.

Draga catches himself on the rock surface, his weight almost but not quite pulling him down anyway. With a sigh, Draga makes his way right along the wall for a minute before hauling himself up.

Aware that his stamina must be fairly low at this point, Draga merely walks to the headmasters tower.

Like before, Draga goes inside and rides the elevator to the top, walking straight into the office and taking a seat. This time around, Ozpin is already in his chair when Draga enters the room.

Ozpin doesn't acknowledge Draga until he sits down, whereupon he turns in his own chair to face him directly.

Ozpin talks in the accelerated time, which Draga wasn't currently on, forcing Draga to swap in order to hear properly.

"-to Beacon. There is a pamphlet with all the rules by the exit of the building, I expect you to follow them. Lastly, initiation is tomorrow. I expect you to pass with flying colors. Any questions?"

Draga just shakes his head, figuring anything he didn't get in that pamphlet or the 'history' book he 'found' could simply be winged.

"Alright. Can I see your scroll?"

Draga pulls it from his pocket, where he last placed it, and hands it over. Ozpin spends a moment examining it before handing it back.

"All set. Good day, Draga."

Ozpin isn't even subtle this time, simply vanishing from his desk-chair. It spins lightly. _Some momentum leftover from whatever he did, perhaps?_

Draga waits a moment before taking his leave as well, albeit in a far more normal way.

The secretary waves him off, writing something down on a clipboard. Noting the reaction to his presence, Draga makes his way to the largest normal-looking building, which should have been the gymnasium but turns out to actually be the cafeteria. The place is massive, having a ceiling far above his head and enough tables to seat everyone he'd ever actually met. Admittedly, that number wasn't as high as some people but it was still well over 500.

The place was busy, sure, but with the colossal space they had to fit within it seemed almost empty. With the exception of a few teams meeting at their tables and some individuals grabbing their food, there was really nothing to explain the massive size of the room.

Regardless, it wasn't what he was looking for. Taking his second guess, Draga arrives at the correct location. A stage is jutting from one of the walls, clearly set up for some performance, and a large number of students built up here. Draga went here to get a scope on the competition, but an announcement is just as well.

Everyone around him has a rather distinctive look, primarily in the form of a color scheme. Usually these schemes were one color, but a few people had nicely contrasting armor and clothing beneath it.

Unfortunately, Draga had none of these things. He was wearing a simple pair of black pants, a white shirt with gray sleeves, a black overcoat, and brown boots. It was comfortable, but it seemed to defy the norm here of outstanding appearance.

Another thing became blatantly obvious, and it was something he hadn't thought about until he saw this many students in close proximity. They all had perfect bodies.

Sure, some were skinnier or bulkier than others, but nobody was fat, nobody had acne or scratches, and finally everyone had perfectly kempt clothing.

It wasn't odd for someone to be like that on it's own right, but everyone was like that.

Well, everyone but him. He didn't have acne or anything, being an actual adult and all, and scratches or dirt vanished with **Gamer's Body** but his clothing wasn't immaculate, had wrinkles, and was accentuated by his unkempt hair.

Luckily, some of the people coming in after him were in similar states of poor dress, likely due to rushing into the room.

 _Probably an aura thing, and then clothes are just held under high scrutiny._

Ozpin steps on stage, ending that line of thought.

"Greetings, recruits of Beacon. I-."

Draga stops listening around that point, an idle ear looking for anything important while he scans the crowd again. Besides the staff, of which only Goodwitch, Ozpin, and someone named Bartholomew Oobleck, a person also with a level he can't see, were there, the people in the gym averaged just below level 38. Some got into the fifties, and some were in the mid-twenties. One particular sight caught his eyes, though.

 _Jaune._

There was someone talking to Jaune, at least it seemed to be that way. It was kind of hard to tell with a mask obscuring his face.

 **[LVL51]**

 **Adam Taurus, The Hunter Hunter**

 _Well... Not the best title to see in a room filled to the brim with full fledged or aspiring hunters. At least he's only level 51, so it's unlikely he would pull anything near Ozpin._

That was the thought anyway. Scan complete, Draga turns back to hear the end of the speech.

"-but all I see are marble blocks that need an expert to carve them. Beacon hosts the best of the best both in hunters and higher education, and I will see to it staying that way. On a separate note, initiation is tomorrow. You will be sleeping here, and we will begin first thing in the morning."

Ozpin does a brief head-bow before walking himself off the stage, shortly followed by Goodwitch. Oobleck stays behind to monitor the students as most of them set up a sleeping area.

Fortunately, Draga doesn't need to sleep despite the exp rewards, so when Jaune and Adam walk out of the room with another group of students, Draga is quick to follow.

Somehow, the halls of the school are flooded with people, making tracking anyone, especially someone as inconspicuous as Jaune, a real hassle.

Fortunately, Draga had something for that.

He triggers **Clairvoyance** and keeps his eyes trained in the direction of Jaune, but then something odd happens.

In all the time he'd seen Jaune, he'd never once had an emotional reaction, but with his ability to see through everything he caught a glimpse of surprise marring his face, albeit for a very brief moment before his eyes narrow.

 _Did something change?_

No further reactions come from the man as he walks outside, tailed by Draga far behind and Adam directly second.

Draga turns on **Acceleration** to triple time, just to grind it a bit. It was rather boring having to go the same speed as Jaune and Adam walking while like this, but the skills levels were far too valuable to waste over boredom.

Jaune keeps going for a while, reaching a cliff overlooking a forest. The ground is decorated with what look like marble squares, whatever they're for, and despite the over 100 foot distance and the presence of trees in the way, Jaune turns to stare directly at Draga.

Without moving his lips, Jaune somehow speaks to Draga from all the way over there.

"What are you doing?"

It's said in slow motion thanks to **Acceleration** , but it was far easier to understand slow-speech than fast-speech.

Draga is taken aback, but luckily keeps his reaction within his head.

 _How does he know where I am?_

Draga doesn't answer then, instead jogging towards where Jaune and Adam are. If he's being forced to talk, it might as well be to their face even if they can hear him.

Even then, honesty was never his strong suit.

"Simply scoping out the competition. You guys seemed strong, and when you left altogether it caught my interest."

Adam nods slowly, showing slight suspicion at that answer. Jaune on the other hand, doesn't react at all.

Draga, taking it as a hint to say something, continues.

"Well, I guess I'll head back then. Seems you guys don't want me here.

Taking their collective silence as agreement, Draga walks back to Beacon. With **Clairvoyance** still active, Draga gets a look at the underside of Beacon, which seemed to house a massive labyrinth.

It meant little to him, but it was interesting. The walls were lined with traps and various low level creatures of Grimm were visible. Unfortunately, with his short range of see-through he couldn't see below the first floor, which he knew wasn't the only one because he saw a stairway.

 _This place might be pretty cool._

His thoughts are interrupted by a sudden thought...

 _WHY HAVEN'T I HAD THIS SKILL ON ALL THE TIME?!_

It's cost was negligible, even with his nerfs, and it would get better the more he used it. Same thing applied to **Aura** , but a lot of other skills would cause suspicion. Being coated in lightning wasn't exactly normal here.

Groaning at his own stupidity, Draga triggers his aura before walking back into the gym.

And then being confronted by Oobleck just beyond the door.

"I'd appreciate you not spiking your Aura near the other students. It seems fairly strong, and it could have some unintended effects."

He takes a sip from his thermos, putting it by his side once more.

"Well, I have class to do."

Draga merely nods, watching him go, before he realizes that the staff here must be freaking weird.

He'd still had **Acceleration** on. It didn't seem that the man was even using time manipulation either, just running off pure caffeine... _I think. I have no idea what's in that thermos of his._

 _These people..._

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Draga disables his aura. In replacement, he goes to an available corner, maximizes his acceleration with the 50% increase from **Sleep Casting** in mind, and goes to sleep.

Six hours later, he wakes up again.

 _FUCKING TET! JUST LET ME SLEEP!_

Just like before, he woke up still obnoxiously tired. Since it wasn't an injury, **Gamer's Body** was gonna take it's sweet time purging his lethargy.

He was up now, though, so he gradually stands up, the power finally getting around to one of his greatest ailments. At least in comparison to the exhaustion mechanic, ordinary tiredness was minuscule.

Everyone in the room was asleep, which meant nobody should notice him looking around. With **Clairvoyance** he can tell that Jaune and Adam aren't in the room, a bunch of uninteresting students following suit as well.

As much as he wanted to go out and find them, doing so wouldn't help how suspicious he already seemed.

There was always time to grind, except for now it seemed. Remaining awake, Draga enters a meditative state to grind the hitherto unused **Soul Of The World** and the mostly unused **Stampede** and Tiger set. With the doubled MP regen from the meditation and the decrease in cost due to being awake, Draga also increases his time rate a bit.

 _God **Acceleration** is bogus, isn't it?_

There were limitations, but they were insignificant compared to the power granted by the ability. For instance, just because his time is accelerated doesn't mean he isn't technically running through the air at absurd speeds. He still generates heat, he still moves through air, and potentially most importantly the time rate doesn't affect things that took time to go into place. For instance, **Magma Barracks** still took the same time to setup regardless of his time rate. Extrapolating from that, Draga considered that charge times and the like might be entirely unaffected by it.

Which... Really sucked. He didn't have any charge time abilities, really, but he probably would in the future. Typically, broken as crap abilities either had exorbitant costs or long charge times. He'd already encountered the first, but never the second.

Regardless, Draga gets in about 3 hours of real time grinding, expanded to encompass a huge number of days, in the time before the people start waking up.

Of course, being himself, Draga just continues meditating and silently watching their goings on thanks to his still active **Clairvoyance**.

Oh yeah, good news: **Clairvoyance** doesn't interfere with meditation despite the requirement of closed eyes.

Overall, he had a very productive night/morning up to the exact moment Ozpin took the stage once more. By this time, most but not quite all the students had returned to the gym, among them both Jaune and Adam.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would follow me and Dr. Oobleck outside we will begin initiation."

Draga stands up, the stiffness fading instantly despite how long he was like that.

 _Oh of course. Pain and exhaustion take a moment, but limb stiffness is considered on the level of an injury. That makes complete sense._

The pair lead the massive group outside the gymnasium and towards the cliffside, but unlike what Draga expected, that wasn't the actual stop. Instead the initiates were led down a cliff-side path and towards a series of tunnels which his significantly higher level **Clairvoyance** tells him leads into the labyrinth he saw earlier.

"Oh goodie."

Being too distracted by thoughts of the assignment ahead, nobody payed heed to his statement despite it matching their collective opinions on the matter. They didn't know what they were doing, but they already knew it wasn't good.

Ozpin, seeming to teleport despite Draga's vastly accelerated time rate, appears directly in front of one of the tunnels.

"This here is the Beacon Maze. In all likelihood, none of you have heard of it. That's because our normal initiation is to send you off into the Emerald Forest for some sort of artifact. This year, however, we have far too many people joining up at our school. As such, we need a better way to group you up. With the exception of a few preordained partner setups, everyone will be given the first member of their team now. Once inside, the speed at which you clear the labyrinth and the skills displayed while within will determine the rest of your team."

A few students near the front raise their hands, Ozpin picking on the nearest to speak.

"Is this gonna be dangerous?"

Ozpin chuckles at the question, a look of anticipation marring the students face.

"Why of course it is, but it's nothing a novice hunter couldn't handle, especially in pairs. Inside you will find very low level grim, usually lower than a Borbatusk, and a number of traps. Assuming you maintain your aura, you shouldn't die. In the event you enter significant danger, however it may be, we have staff members ready to get you out. Of course, needing this assistance without extenuating circumstance will result in your expulsion from the hunter program. Of course, if you are an academic, you can still follow that course."

Getting some nods from the crowd, Ozpin wraps it up.

"There are multiple floors of the maze. You are only to enter the top one. Failure to follow this instruction, at least for now, will also terminate your stay here at Beacon Academy. Good luck everyone."

Ozpin walks off all nonchalant, the crowd having a general air of confusion to them. He still hadn't assigned partners. Turns out, Goodwitch had that covered.

And by covered I mean she had a sheet of paper with the partners already set up.

 _Boring... It couldn't have had a hat draw or something?_

Regardless, after around 5 minutes of other people getting their partner, she finally gets around to Draga.

"Draga Konungur and Pyrrha Nikos, you are partners. Meet at tunnel 24."

Draga doesn't even bother looking for the woman, instead just heading towards the designated tunnel. The various tunnels in the cliff wall didn't have signs on them to indicate their number, but it was explained that right to left they were numbered 1-32.

When he arrives, he is pleasantly surprised by his partner.

 **[LVL54]**

 **Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible Girl**

Certainly someone with that title and level could form a powerful team. She was fairly easy on the eyes as well, having a similarly flawless body to many of the other students but also maintaining a high level of dignity and strength. She wore legitimate armor and carried some kind of spear with her along with a rather large shield. She was already at the tunnel, which was rather impressive considering his own speed, and was posted up like she was on watch.

Draga offers her his hand with a genuine smile.

"Pleasure to meet-."

 _OW!_

Of course she was strong enough to crush his hand with an ordinary handshake. Of course.

"-you."

The final word was said with an obvious tone of a man in pain, which was unfortunate for first impressions. While she remains stoic on the outside, a quick **Observe** shows some rather pleasant news: She thought it was funny.

Okay, not the best pleasant news, but funny is better than annoyed.

She releases her vice grip on Draga's hand before answering in kind.

"Pleasure to meet you as well."

With around a minute left to wait, Draga sets himself up in a meditative state against the cliff wall and maxes out his skills once again. Can't waste any time to grind, right?

"All partners have been assigned. On the signal, begin."

Pyrrha glances around, searching for what the signal would be. Draga had no such qualms. With **Clairvoyance** he'd already seen the gong in the distance.

Sure enough, moments later a certain sound resounded through the forest: GONGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

And the labyrinth exploration began.

Draga lifts himself to his feet and follows Pyrrha inside.

* * *

Pyrrha and Draga enter the lounge area at the end of the maze, both completely unharmed by the maze they're leaving. There were four people already there, all in equally perfect condition.

There is Jaune and Adam, as Draga slightly expected, and two people he can't really explain getting past faster than himself and Pyrrha.

 **[LVL42]**

 **Mercury Black, The Kicking Guillotine**

 **[LVL46]**

 **Emerald Sustrai, Master Illusionist**

Sure, they were decently leveled, but Draga and Pyrrha could completely ignore traps by avoiding them and Draga solved large portions of the maze almost instantly thanks to his vision ability.

Pyrrha is less concerned, simply plopping herself down on a nearby sofa. For a square room carved out of stone, it was surprisingly well furnished, complete with a series of couches, chairs, a fridge, and even a pair of beds. Draga, not finding anything to do within the room, takes a seat besides Pyrrha to wait.

And it got boring. Nobody spoke for over fifteen minutes, and by that point nobody had entered either. Draga could sort-of entertain himself by watching a team through the walls, but they were the only ones within range on top of going in the wrong direction. He couldn't interfere either since he had no ranged communication abilities and people would definitely question him for going back into the maze.

Pyrrha was even worse off. With the tension in the air coming from the four in the room before them, the general silence, and the inability to watch anything, she was losing her mind. As a star and rather adventurous person, she was used to almost continuous action or at least conversation. Here there wasn't even a clock to give her a sense of time.

At least she wasn't affected by Draga's use of **Acceleration** or she might have actually gone mad.

The walls blows open, a certain person with a name rhyming with Dora breaking through it with a grenade hammer. As she skips happily into the room, a rather anxious Ren follows in from behind. Despite the obvious firepower difference between the two, they are both an even level 44.

The pair of them take a seat opposite each other on some beanbag chairs, taking a break from the world. It would be another 5 or so minutes before people really started filing in and conversation started, saving Pyrrha from her inexorable boredom.

The room got rather crowded before the assignment actually ended, much to everyone's dismay. Personal space is sort of hard to maintain when there's around 4 square feet per person.

A voice, obviously Ozpin's, speaks from an intercom system.

"Congratulations on passing initiation, all of you. Welcome to Beacon."

For the first time in millennia, a chapter on FF ended without a cliffhanger or a story end.

 **Sup, fams and dogs. I done played a cow today. I completely owned a badger and a maniac with a mini-gun and rocket-launcher.**

 **And by that I mean I played Alistair in League of Legends and completely stomped Teemo and Jinx.**

 **Get rekt scrub. Top lane Alistair OP!**

 **If you play League, add me. Take a wild guess as to my summoner name.**

 **Anyway, I've had some time to think. I had a huge series of plot points set up, but like with right here in this chapter setup is gonna be needed. As such, there will be an unfortunate amount of dialogue and boring sort-of retread going on the in near future. Apologies in advance if you have problems with that.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 4153**

 **MP: 39990**

 **Str: 26(39.26)**

 **Vit: 55(83.05)**

 **Dex: 18(40.045)**

 **Int: 100(151)**

 **Wis: 50(125.5)**

 **Luk: 50(50)**

 **Points: 25**

 **Height: 5'5''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL13 EXP 14.51% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 13**

 **Current total affinity: 15.86**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 3 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 12.29% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 51%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 51%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 51%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 51%.**

 **Additional 51% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 51% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:8%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL22 EXP: 13.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 22%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 66 or 11%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP:59.52% MP:9200, 920 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 9% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL33 EXP:27.93% MP:5500, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL12 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 89 minutes.**

 **Current permanent MP gained:80**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL48 EXP: 86.92% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 760 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .1% status.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.**

 **Imposes or removes emotional status effects on a target.**

 **Max status level: Low.**

 **This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Unlocks emotional state for Observe.**

 **Blind Fist Mastery (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 10.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage.**

 **Passively reduces sound and scent emitted by 50%.**

 **Actively increases effectiveness of all martial arts by 13%. Double effect if a Blind Fist attack.**

 **Actively increases Dex and Str by 5.**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Darkness is the absence of light, so if you control light you also control darkness. Gelap is the power to control light in an area and specifically cause it to cease.**

 **Removes 4% of light in a cubic meter.**

 **Can be stacked in an area.**

 **Can have any number of simultaneous casts.**

 **Stampede (Active) LVL21 EXP: 2.36%% MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 142%.**

 **Increase charging force by 142%.**

 **Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL20 EXP: 7.91% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The foot technique for fast movement in combat intended for an ancient martial arts style.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 5%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 40% when active.**

 **Claws of the Tiger (Active) LVL18 EXP: 15.31% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The most basic technique of an ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **46% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.14% MP:100**

 **A technique central to an ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **52% increase to jumping distance.**

 **26% increase to movement speed.**

 **26% increase to attack damage.**

 **Applies to a single action.**

 **Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL9 EXP: 29.84% MP:1000**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Changes your voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Up to 980% increase in volume for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 9% of current level.**

 **Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL14 EXP: 94.15% MP: 200, 200 per minute**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. This is the penultimate technique of his followers.**

 **126% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **126% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **126% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 200 HP used per minute.**

 **Clairvoyance (Active) LVL33 EXP: 69.15% MP: 50**

 **An ability given to those with the natural ability to clearly perceive the world through forms of Extrasensory Perception. Takes the form of enhanced visual acuity and perception beyond the limits of normal eyesight, as well as optical interpretation of information. Range, breadth, and visual processing increase with skill level, INT, and through related abilities.**

 **Additional 50 MP used per minute.**

 **Chaos Storm (Passive and Active) LVL19 EXP: 14.52% MP:10000, 1000 per second**

 **The ability to cause a storm of of the elements. The damage type and cause are dependent on the user's elemental affinities.**

 **Passively boosts all elemental affinities already owned by 5.**

 **Creates a storm around or near the user of a combination of all current elemental affinities. Only the user is immune to damage from the storm.**

 **Damage scales with Int, Skill LVL, and total elemental affinities.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable**

 **The user has gained enlightenment on the formation and structure of mana. The user can transfer mana between objects with ease, creating a bridge of energy, or disperse mana with his own.**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50%**

 **Actively allows MP transfer between self and other with 2m range.**

 **Actively can disperse anothers MP at a ratio of 1000:4**

 **Can disperse one's own mana into the atmosphere.**

 **Fire (Passive) LVL48 EXP 50.15% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 48**

 **Current total affinity: 89.06**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to maintain casts while unconscious.**

 **Have an ability that either has a duration or is toggled and having it active when put to sleep causes Sleep Casting to trigger.**

 **Abilities can be continued while asleep for a 50% increase in net price.**

 **Flaming Prison** **(Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a field of fire. This field feeds on the fires within the radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The ability to coat ones body or weapon in flames. These flames do not injure the caster, but can damage the user's equipment.**

 **Coats any amount of the users body and equipment that they choose in fire. If flammable material is coated in flames, the spell may use it as fuel to halve the cost.**

 **Fiery Body (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 0.00% MP:985, 985 per minute**

 **The ability to transform ones body into fire.**

 **Passively increases taken water based damage by 10%.**

 **Passively reduces cutting damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all stats by 10% in a hot or dry environment.**

 **Passively increases fire affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves fire based damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into fire, granting complete immunity to increasing temperature, the ability to create flames on surfaces within 20m for 1000 MP, and a form immune to physical damage.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to combine elemental abilities for greater effect.**

 **Whenever an elemental ability is comparable to another they can be cast at the same time with new effects for 1000x the mana cost.**

 **Affinities for mixed elements are the average of the combined base affinities.**

 **Destruction Silhouette (Passive and Active)** **LVL2 EXP: 4.61% MP:99500 per second**

 **The ability to transform into an aspect of pure destruction, gaining the powers that would come with it.**

 **Passively increases taken damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all terrain damaging effects by 10%**

 **Passively increases fire and lightning affinities by 10.**

 **Passively increases total damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into a contained maelstrom of energy. Allows 360 degree flight at running speed and grants immunity to physical damage.**

 **While in this form, the user is able to intentionally disintegrate materials with a touch.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.**


	22. Sanity-6

It was a refreshing feeling to achieve something. Sure, not gaining any tangible rewards like levels or skills kinda sucked but beating initiation so profoundly could still be appreciated.

That feeling was vastly diminished when Ozpin made his second announcement.

"We will now be assigning permanent teams."

Draga wasn't that surprised, but he had expected a little more time before the announcements. Regardless of anything else, Ozpin pulled down a large projector screen and snapped his fingers to turn the machine attached to the ceiling on.

On the screen was the first team announcement, one that had so little surprise in it that Draga didn't even bother feigning it.

Team JAME

Jaune Arc (Leader)

Adam Taurus

Mercury Black

Emerald Sustrai

"Congratulations, Jaune, Adam, Mercury, and Emerald. You are all now part of team-."

He pauses for quite some time to create tension. You can actually overhear literally everyone in the group agreeing with the name 'Team Jam'.

"-Jasmine"

"OH FOR-!"

Adam is silenced by his partners glare, which lacking was rather odd since it lacked any real intensity.

The remainder of the group was annoyed, but didn't express it verbally.

The newly named Team Jasmine climbed onto the stage, gave simple bows, and was walked out the door by Ozpin.

"Next up, we have team PDNR, consisting of Pyrrha, Draga, Nora, and Lie. You are all members of-."

He waits again, but for slightly less this time.

"-Team Pardoner."

While the four move on stage, they all just shrug it off. It was a poor name, for sure, but with the letters given to work with, there wasn't much he could actually do.

As them moved on stage, their names appeared in the same manner as the previous team.

Team PDNR

Pyrrha Nikos (Leader)

Draga Konungur

Nora Valkyrie

Lie Ren

When they arrived onstage, Lie whispered something to Ozpin who immediately updated the board.

Team PDNR

Pyrrha Nikos (Leader)

Draga Konungur

Nora Valkyrie

Ren, Lie

 _Ah, so he wants to be called Ren. Gotcha._

Following the previous teams actions, they bowed and walked off stage.

Once outside, the most boisterous of them, who had been oddly calm up until this point, finally reacted.

"WHOOOOOOOO!"

Nora wrapped her arms around Draga's and Ren's necks, pulling them into a normally deadly hug. Pyrrha was only spared since she was on the other side of Draga at the time.

Being unable to speak due to the applied pressure to his throat, Draga is helpless as this absurdly strong woman gradually killed him with her grip.

Since he was still able to see, he notes how Ren is seemingly unfazed by Nora's absurd crushing power and was actually talk.

"Nora, there is a time for celebration. This is not it."

Seeming to understand him for a moment, Nora relaxes her grip slightly.

"You're right... Let's go to the room and celebrate!"

 _Oh dear god no._

Nora squeezes the pair before releasing them completely a moment later.

"ONWARD! FOR PARTIES!"

Ren seems bored by the woman's antics while Pyrrha was smiling at the sight.

Draga on the other hand, was already back in the room with Ozpin. If anyone could stop the devil-woman, it'd be him.

Then again...

 **[LVL?]**

 **Nora Valkyrie, HAMMER-TIME!**

Her title was a meme. Damn yourself, Tet _. Why do you do this to me?_

Draga didn't need a reply, even if the aloof god was listening. After all, why would you need a reply if you already knew he'd just smile and say 'because it's fun!' before winking and floating away?

And what was with her level? She'd apparently entered the original room late, since he'd have noticed the question marks among the sea of 30-50's. A good guess was he could see 50 levels above his own, so what the hell was Nora?

The minimum level for that would force her own to be absurd, right?

 _Ugh... My brain would be hurting right now if the effect wasn't actively deterred._

Nora's strange abilities aside, Draga turns his attention to the stage again. Several teams had been announced by this time, most of them rather boring in character. There was a color coded one led by a certain 'child prodigy' he knew, but the team itself didn't interest him much.

And then came Team MNDN/Mandarin, with Coal as the leader.

 **[LVL46]**

 **Coal Malal, The Demonic Twin**

 **[LVL46]**

 **Onyx Malal, The Angelic Twin**

 **[LVL52]**

 **Crimson Storm, The Blood Born**

 **[LVL53]**

 **Spectra Len, The Purifier**

Not only did this team have some pretty badass titles and fairly high levels, but at least part of their powers were in open display. Well, besides Spectra anyway.

Nestled in the backs of Coal and Onyx's were a set of wings for their respective creature, and floating above Crimson was a ball roughly the same size of his head made out of blood.

While **Observe** provided no real meaningful information beyond what the title and displayed powers gave away, there was also their bizarre equipment.

Coal and Onyx had completmentary outfits, actually forming the reverse of their respective 'element'. Coal, the demonic one, was wearing a bright white robe with golden trim and carrying on his hip what looked like a gold sword, but knowing how impractical gold was as a metal, Draga suspected plating or coloring. Onyx had a similar robe if not for the black primary color and blue accents, and he also had a rather large red sword diagonally on his back.

Crimson was wearing a fairly dark green trenchcoat with a brighter shade of green for the trim along with simple black garments underneath. Dark green wasn't outstanding, really, but the literal glow of a much more natural green flowing off his clothing was. He didn't seem to have a weapon, which seemed odd since a trenchcoat would be the perfect place to hide one.

Lastly, Spectra was the personification of flamboyant, but also the personification of hopelessly disorganized. While Draga had never been into fashion, even he knew that the girls outfit was a mess. She had rainbow boots and hat, bright pink overcoat on a yellow corset and a pair of bright blue pants, almost but not quite jeans. She had two hidden arm daggers up her sleeves and guns built into her boots.

It was quite the combination. Besides the twins which literally designed their outfit to complement each other, they looked completely ridiculous together, particularly Crimson and Spectra with their clashing style and color scheme.

Despite all of that, the team seemed fairly happy to be together, even going so far as to chat with each other all the way out of Draga's vision radius with big fat smiles on their faces.

Shortly after, the final team was announced, something named Cardinal. Like most that came before, it wasn't of particular interest.

 _I guess I should go see my team, then._

In resignation, Draga heads upstairs to the information desk and asks for his room number.

* * *

 _Boy, I really wish I could stick my palm all the way through my face right now._

The room had barely been occupied for 15 minutes, and Nora had already set up an entire party complete with food (mostly pancakes for some reason), a wide variety of group games, and the worst possible thing for the relatively small room:

Fireworks.

The moment Draga entered the room they started going off, showering sparks everywhere. While the people inside were unaffected thanks to aura, Draga somehow doubted that the drapes or carpet were infused with someones soul.

But they didn't catch... Somehow.

 _They might just have fireproof cloth. If someone had a fire related ability or weapon and started using it in their sleep, it would be pretty important._

Draga sighs and pinches his nose with his thumb and forefinger, openly displaying his irritation with the not-so-surprise party.

"Can you not?

Nora, despite being taller than Draga by several inches, seems smaller than him as she pouts and gives him this preposterously adorable face for a girl of her age.

Gamer's mind apparently didn't protect from cuteness anymore.

"Fine, fine. Go ahead."

And she was back, crushing Draga's back with a hug and her titanic levels of strength.

"Please... Let go... Nora."

The gods stopped smiling out of sadistic pleasure for a moment as Nora indeed let him go. She span around for a moment like one would expect a ballerina would before two plates with pancakes on them just sort of teleported into her hands.

I mean that too. They were on the table one moment, and in her hand the next. Draga should know, since he had a 5x time rate at the moment.

Nora hands Draga the smaller of the two plates before practically inhaling her own.

"PARTY!"

* * *

The exhaustion mechanic apparently takes into account stress.

It had been less than half an hour and Draga hadn't done anything tiring besides the game of twister he'd been forced into (Which he won thanks to his generally smaller and more agile body... And some time manipulation.) Despite that, he was now sitting on his bed in the corner with an inescapable feeling of anguish.

 _Whoever designed this mechanic is gonna pay, even if I need to beat Tet again just to do it._

Since he was already stuck not moving, Draga spent the time meditating with maxed out **Acceleration** , as one would expect. This had the added bonus of being so fast that he couldn't hear anything going on in the room without attention, something he wasn't giving it.

 _I gotta get out of here before Nora kills me._

Nora had given everyone in the room, including Pyrrha, their fair share of debilitating hugs, something he suspected Nora did to win at some party games. Kinda hard to win at twister with a fractured spine.

 _Jokes on you, I had another spine in my back pocket._

Only good thing about the blasted new system was that his stamina recovered faster with accelerated time.

 _Probably need to increase Vitality to increase my stamina... But I only have 25 points. Another option would be boosting my **Str** so I might be able to handle Nora's strength by opposing it._

Sure, it was a stupid thing to expect him to overpower Nora with strength alone, but just reducing the damage and pain would be nice and hitting that 50 mark on **Str** could only be good. The only time those landmark skills ever let him down was with **Luk** , but **Luk** was a shitty stat to begin with.

At least, it seemed that way.

Once the exhaustion wore off, which was coincidentally the time the other three decided they'd try 'Spin the Hammer', Draga distributed the points before sitting down to play. It was a harmless game of spin the bottle, but with a hammer, right?

Before he could find out, he read his skills.

 **Giant's Strength (Passive) LVLMAX Stack: 1 MP:100, 100 per second**

 **Only granted to those with already superhuman strength, the gods blessed man with the power of a true giant.**

 **Upon levelup, a bonus point is put into Str.**

 **Upon acquisition, the user gains permanent base Str equal to level.**

 **Increases total Vit by 1 per level.**

 **Increases physical damage dealt by 1% per level.**

 **Osteo (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to defend oneself with the density of their own muscles.**

 **Increases DR by 1 per Str.**

 **Increases DR by 1 per Vit.**

 _A passive with a permanent 100 MP per second cost?_

The cost was minimal considering he literally had 2509 MP regen per second, but it was a first. The increase of 35 strength was also pretty ridiculous. He was most of the way to 100 after just hitting 50.

He distributes his last point to **Dex** before returning his attention to what his team was doing.

And he realizes Nora's hammer was at the center, something that wasn't unexpected, but the scary part was how it was in what she deemed 'HAMMER TIME' mode, IE whenever she hits something it shoots.

Nora leans forward once Draga looks at the hammer and subsequently punches the head of it, triggering a shot and sending it spinning.

Draga panics, reaching to grab the grenade and lob it outside, but it explodes in his hand.

And confetti comes out.

 _I hate this school already._

Draga sits back down, an incredibly annoyed expression on his face, and watches as the hammer stops pointing at him.

And then they do it again to select the other person.

 _Please don't be Nora._ _Please don't be Nora._ _Please don't be Nora._ _Please don't be Nora._

Whatever vindictive god set him up where he was, which Draga recognized wasn't necessarily Tet, was feeling merciful.

It was Ren.

It only stopped for a millisecond, and in that moment the stare Ren gave the most broken weapon in all of RWBY seemed to have actual pressure.

And it started moving again to land on Pyrrha.

Ren lets out a sigh of relief, content with not being forced to do whatever they decided was the activity with Draga.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Draga flips his head to Nora with an obvious expression of 'You gotta be fucking kidding me' to which she replies with a cheerful smile and a arm swing towards the invincible girl.

Then Draga realizes the trap that already had him would only get worse, and he needed a plan.

Unfortunately, a few less than reputable thoughts went through his mind instead.

 _ **Gamer's Mind** , don't fail me now. Come on. Come on. WORK YOU DAMN THING!_

Even beyond the connotations that the urges brought with them, there was always the potential of a conflict coming up.

While Draga didn't doubt himself in a fight, women were very curious things. Some, like Pyrrha, were generally calm and collected... But anger literally any woman and being sent to hell would be a blessing.

There wasn't direct evidence that kissing her would anger her, since she agreed to the game, but... Women. Excluding Shiro every woman Draga had ever met had completely irrational anger as the status quo.

Draga sighs, turning to move towards Pyrrha, but as he does something he hadn't expected happens.

Her face is directly in front of his already.

 _Oh dear._

And like that, Draga's second kiss was taken. His first was with Stephanie Dola, but that hardly even counted since she couldn't win at a game or kiss for the life of her.

 _Well, she can't be mad if she started it, right?_

Right he was. A second later, Pyrrha pulled away and took her seat. It took an **Observe** to tell, but she was actually nervous.

 _Right..._

Draga stands up and makes up an excuse to leave.

"I, uh, have to see Ozpin about something."

Everyone in the room totally believing his expert lie, Draga makes his escape.

* * *

 _So **Gamer's Mind** is substancially less effective... It's blocking heavy emotions but not stopping things like becoming flustered... Tet dammit, Fushai. If I can't fix this crap I am gonna kill you again._

Draga let out a sigh, slumping up against the wall after closing the door behind him. He had never been flustered... Ever. Before he became a Gamer, there was no cause of it, and since then he had always figured his new power would protect him. Draga was woefully unprepared for these kinds of feelings.

At least he didn't have an actual attraction. That would have been impossible to deal with while maintaining a perfect tactical mindset.

Since his escape was made, he might as well use it effectively and escape the group entirely for the night.

It was already getting fairly late, around 8:30, but that was nothing for someone who had to adjust to a pair of NEETs.

 _I guess I could train through the night. Even only knowing Nora for an hour or so, I can already tell that party will be forced to continue for quite some time._

Since nothing jumped out at him, Draga made his way down the hall to get into the gym. Once inside, he found a nice quiet corner up on top of the bleachers and set himself to sleep.

With all the abilities he could just have active active, of course.

* * *

For once, Draga awoke without being severely tired. He still wasn't a morning person, so he didn't shoot up or anything, but it was almost as if he slept comfortably... But he was on bleachers...

Draga DOES shoot awake, frantically glancing around.

Or at least he would be if there wasn't someone already in front of him.

"Hello. Draga, right?"

Draga nods, taking the chance to examine the surroundings. He was currently within a dorm room, identical to the one he was in before with the exception of the party. Lacking tables, balloons, and food to bring out the place, it was a really drab place.

"My name is-."

"Spectra. I saw you during the team assignments. Would you, by chance, know why I am in here?"

She nods, taking a moment to ready herself.

 _It's something bad, isn't it?_

His suspicions were actually wrong for once.

"While you were sleeping in the gym, your Aura started flaring massively. I was nearby, so I took notice. It's dangerous to expend aura, especially at the absurd rate you were blowing through it, so I brought you here and disabled your aura myself."

"Oh... You can disable my Aura?"

 _So I can't have **Aura** active around other people literally because it's so strong I become a beacon. Fantastic design, game._

"Yeah. I suppose you could call me a healer, but for the sake of future competition that's all I'll say."

She stands up, Draga following suit a moment later.

"Well... Thanks."

It's not like she knew it was practically nothing for him. How could she?

It did unfortunately mean he had to rely on the passive EXP gain while at school... It didn't even have that high a mana cost, so it really sucked no having it on hand.

 _Back to training, I guess. I only got an hour of sleep so the EXP bonus from that is lost._

Before he was able to leave, however, Spectra stopped him.

"It'd be best if you stayed near me in case it happens again, and since Crimson sleeps during the day, you might as well sleep here."

 _Not back to training, I guess. Tet, if you can hear me, stop whoever is doing this to me._

* * *

-A certain god appears before a writer currently working on a bus.-

*Hello, Draco (I am Draco Mikhail Murdock, the character is Draco Miloki Tyradon Murdock. Hope that doesn't mess with anyone.) Draga would appreciate it if you stopped screwing with him, Cool?*

-Turning to face the ex-God of Play, Draco smiles broadly. For a moment, even the all-seeing eyes of Tet fall under an illusion, making Draco's face appear black with bright neon yellow crescent mouth and singular eye.-

*I'm just getting started.*

* * *

"I guess... Think Coal or Onyx will mind?"

 _Please. Anything to let me train outside some more._

"Nope. At least for today, they're gonna be training during the night. Something about taking advantage of free time while school isn't in session."

 _THAT WAS MY PLAN TOO YOU KNOW! Ugh... She has the perfect set of reasons for me to stay, if only she was right. Proving her wrong, however, would probably paint a target on my back since I doubt she'd be able to keep a secret, at least if this is how she normally acts._

"Alright, fine. I'll stay here."

That resolved, Spectra leaves the room for a moment.

 _I just got here, and already I've lost a mental spar. Fantastic._

It had been a while since such a thing had happened. In fact, he hadn't really had any real information oriented conflict since he left Disboard.

It was refreshing to think about, but normally these things relied on strategy and planning. He was kind of limited in that respect since he had to keep up the image that he belonged here, at least in Vale anyway. How would you fare with a handicap in your strategies that negated your ability to train your second strongest advantage?

Okay, not second. His elemental forms weren't counted in that, and they were ahead of even **Acceleration** , so he was stuck with fourth and below the fifth on that scale.

Just perfect, right?

At least it wasn't anything with heavy stakes involved, yet.

That was the main issue here. Draga had no idea what threats there actually were. Jaune was suspicious and there were obviously gangs, but that amounted to nothing. The gangs were police work and his thoughts on Jaune could be based on a false impression.

 _What am I even doing here?_

It was a question many philosophers had asked before, but they at least had a job, right? Draga was just training and blindly putting himself in the spotlight so he was the target of crazy shit and not other people.

That isn't a job; it's just a hobby.

Draga collapses back onto the bed, a sigh slipping past his lips.

 _It's just a game._

* * *

Draga wakes up normally, 6 hours having passed. Or, rather, an hour having passed.

That's the other issue.

How can you occupy yourself for 6-12 times the normal time rate?

Computers aren't nearly advanced enough for that kind of activity on Disboard or Earth. Remnant seemed both ahead and behind the loop. They had airships and scrolls, but lacked the VR tech either realm held.

Training was simply monotonous since the only way it could be maximized was with meditation or continuous sprinting.

And finally, school was school.

Okay, that's not exactly the best way to describe this school specifically. Sure, he could see a few normal classes through the walls of the building, but there was also the giant wall of fire outsi-.

 _Wait._

Draga turns to look out the window, a training grounds completely bathed in flames in open view of the school. A quick glance to both sides reveals that almost nobody is worried, but there are a few onlookers. He can't even see what's inside of the fire since the absurd light coming out of it blocks anything in focus from appearing within **Clairvoyance**.

 _What the hell is wrong with this place?_

Spectra, who came out of the shower a moment later, caught Draga just watching the scorching landscape.

"That's a spar. Some idiot challenged a senior. He's been trapped in a giant fire for a few hours now, just slowly cooking. I think the senior is actually sleeping in there, just waiting for something to happen."

Draga looks again, focusing his **Clairvoyance** in an attempt to filter out the light from the fire. Surprisingly this works, allowing him to see that while the senior isn't asleep. He is just resting without a care in the world in a field of fire.

It takes a moment, but Draga locates the other person. He was similarly cloaked in flames, and while it was clear he was in pain the man was attempting to match his 'opponent's' actions. Instead of being a smart person and leaving or at least attacking the other student, he was just lying on the ground.

Trying to use **Observe** fails by merely casting it on the fire which he now knows is at a comfortable 8000 degrees Fahrenheit, and at this range the font for nameplates is too small... He might need something to fix that on top of his current vision enhancements.

 _How to fix that..._

Draga sends Aura to his eyes in progressively higher amounts, eventually just expending all available mana on the task.

And... It sort of works.

 **Through special action you have unlocked the physical trait [White Eye]!**

 **Ugh... So many things to do. I'm even starting to get fic requests from people. The pressure is on.**

 **Speaking of fic requests, I am taking them. The question is essentially, though, do you want my work as a whole to slow down? Already currently working with 3 fics since Minato's Folly is a single chapter work. That's a total of 8000 words before a cycle is complete. Add another fic? Add another 2000 words (Fickle Things is gonna remain at 4000 since it is by far the longest story I will ever be writing.)**

 **In the near future, shit is gonna get real eleven times over. Prepare for that.**

 **On another note, try guessing what the power is gonna be. Come one, it's not that hard.**

 **Also, if you think it's the Byakugan, you're wrong. Figured I'd get that out of the way.**

 **Lastly... I can't figure out how his full Dex was 40 last chapter... I just can't. I'm not taking his mask into account, so...**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 4153**

 **MP: 40030  
**

 **Str: 85(130.9)**

 **Vit: 55(83.05)**

 **Dex: 19(40.045)**

 **Int: 100(151)**

 **Wis: 50(125.5)**

 **Luk: 50(50)**

 **Points: 0  
**

 **Height: 5'9''**

 **Weight: 182 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes through training.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 75% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Through constant sharpshooting the user has gained increased ability with ranged weapons.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVL13 EXP 14.51% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 13**

 **Current total affinity: 15.86**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a lightning bolt from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 3 bolt**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 10% damage reduction from physical sources**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 40m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The user has attained at least partial ability to hide their presence.**

 **Passively reduces odds of being spotted by 12% from sound.**

 **Actively reduces odds of being spotted by 16% from sound or sight.**

 **Both effects are reduced by 1% per point value in Wisdom by the would-be spotter (This cannot increase odds of being spotted).**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL9 EXP: 0.01% MP:93, 93 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 54%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 54%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 54%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 54%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 54%.**

 **Additional 54% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 54% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 54% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 15.23% MP:950, 950 per second**

 **The user has through elemental mastery and really fucking weird magic attained the ability to become a electrical human…**

 **Passively causes damage from contact with water.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 105**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 20%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL5 EXP: 32.64% MP:800 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**

 **Current % from trigger:8%**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0**

 **The user has become adapted to exercise due to an excellent physique. They are harder to tire, and resistant to the effects of fatigue.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the effects of cramps, limb numbness, friction-based blisters.**

 **The user is immune to the effects of fatigue while above 41% HP.**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The user's skin has become more resilient to injury.**

 **Passively grants the user 15 DR.**

 **Actively doubles the DR for the duration.**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can control the essences of their being with fluidity.**

 **Passively allows the user to control minor aspects of their body such as hair growth rate.**

 **Actively allows the user to convert MP to HP and vise versa with an efficiency ratio of 8/10.**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The user has acquired skill in using a sword.**

 **Passively increases damage with a sword by 18%.**

 **Passively increases damage of sword skills by 27%.**

 **Elemental Connection (Passive) LVL22 EXP: 13.37% MP:0**

 **Passively increases all elemental affinities by 22%**

 **Passively decreases the cost of elemental abilities by 66 or 11%, whichever is larger.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP:13.53% MP:980, 980 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 3% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 125% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 3**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVL2 EXP:13.51% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 2 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVL19 EXP:96.81% MP:9100, 910 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 10% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVL15 EXP:21.51% MP: 93, 93 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 1500.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Astral Blade (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having unlocked control over mana, the user has learned to create swords on his own.**

 **Creates a duplicate of a sword currently available for use.**

 **The durability of the sword scales with Int.**

 **The ability to duplicate magical effects scales with skill level.**

 **Currently available effects:**

 **Astral Chain (Active) LVL9 EXP:18.21% MP:76, 76 per second**

 **Having control over mana, the user has learned to create chains on his own.**

 **Creates a chain of up to 45m, scaling with skill level.**

 **Durability of chain scales with Int.**

 **Astral Flail (Active) LVL6 EXP:75.23% MP:145, 145 per second**

 **Having done it before, the user has learned to combine an astral weapon with an astral chain, creating a flail-like weapon with long range.**

 **Current range: 45m plus weapon length.**

 **Durability scales with Int.**

 **Weapon effects are based on used skill.**

 **Phantom Visions (Active) LVL33 EXP:27.93% MP:5500, 2000 per second**

 **The user can create hologram-like illusions by emitting massive amounts of magic in precise ways. The holograms can create sounds as well. Any effects that would allow the affected units to see through functions as normal.**

 **Creatures with wisdom beyond 57% of the users are unaffected.**

 **Soul of the World (Active) LVL13 EXP: 56.15% MP:0**

 **Actively allows the user to meditate, boosting all regeneration effects by 100% in exchange for remaining still.**

 **While meditating the user permanently gains 10 max MP per 88 minutes.**

 **Current permanent MP gained:130**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVL58 EXP: 86.92% MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 710 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .1% status.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.**

 **Imposes or removes emotional status effects on a target.**

 **Max status level: Low.**

 **This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.**

 **Range: 30 meters.**

 **Unlocks emotional state for Observe.**

 **Blind Fist Mastery (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 10.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage.**

 **Passively reduces sound and scent emitted by 50%.**

 **Actively increases effectiveness of all martial arts by 13%. Double effect if a Blind Fist attack.**

 **Actively increases Dex and Str by 5.**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Darkness is the absence of light, so if you control light you also control darkness. Gelap is the power to control light in an area and specifically cause it to cease.**

 **Removes 4% of light in a cubic meter.**

 **Can be stacked in an area.**

 **Can have any number of simultaneous casts.**

 **Stampede (Active) LVL21 EXP: 2.36%% MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 142%.**

 **Increase charging force by 142%.**

 **Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL20 EXP: 7.91% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The foot technique for fast movement in combat intended for an ancient martial arts style.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 5%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 40% when active.**

 **Claws of the Tiger (Active) LVL18 EXP: 15.31% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The most basic technique of an ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **46% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 14.14% MP:100**

 **A technique central to an ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **52% increase to jumping distance.**

 **26% increase to movement speed.**

 **26% increase to attack damage.**

 **Applies to a single action.**

 **Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL9 EXP: 29.84% MP:1000**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Changes your voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Up to 980% increase in volume for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 9% of current level.**

 **Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL14 EXP: 94.15% MP: 200, 200 per minute**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. This is the penultimate technique of his followers.**

 **126% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **126% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **126% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 200 HP used per minute.**

 **Clairvoyance (Active) LVL33 EXP: 69.15% MP: 50**

 **An ability given to those with the natural ability to clearly perceive the world through forms of Extrasensory Perception. Takes the form of enhanced visual acuity and perception beyond the limits of normal eyesight, as well as optical interpretation of information. Range, breadth, and visual processing increase with skill level, INT, and through related abilities.**

 **Additional 50 MP used per minute.**

 **Chaos Storm (Passive and Active) LVL19 EXP: 14.52% MP:10000, 1000 per second**

 **The ability to cause a storm of of the elements. The damage type and cause are dependent on the user's elemental affinities.**

 **Passively boosts all elemental affinities already owned by 5.**

 **Creates a storm around or near the user of a combination of all current elemental affinities. Only the user is immune to damage from the storm.**

 **Damage scales with Int, Skill LVL, and total elemental affinities.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable**

 **The user has gained enlightenment on the formation and structure of mana. The user can transfer mana between objects with ease, creating a bridge of energy, or disperse mana with his own.**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50%**

 **Actively allows MP transfer between self and other with 2m range.**

 **Actively can disperse anothers MP at a ratio of 1000:4**

 **Can disperse one's own mana into the atmosphere.**

 **Fire (Passive) LVL48 EXP 50.15% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 48**

 **Current total affinity: 89.06**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to maintain casts while unconscious.**

 **Have an ability that either has a duration or is toggled and having it active when put to sleep causes Sleep Casting to trigger.**

 **Abilities can be continued while asleep for a 50% increase in net price.**

 **Flaming Prison** **(Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**

 **The user can create a field of fire. This field feeds on the fires within the radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**

 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per second**

 **The ability to coat ones body or weapon in flames. These flames do not injure the caster, but can damage the user's equipment.**

 **Coats any amount of the users body and equipment that they choose in fire. If flammable material is coated in flames, the spell may use it as fuel to halve the cost.**

 **Fiery Body (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 0.00% MP:985, 985 per minute**

 **The ability to transform ones body into fire.**

 **Passively increases taken water based damage by 10%.**

 **Passively reduces cutting damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all stats by 10% in a hot or dry environment.**

 **Passively increases fire affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves fire based damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into fire, granting complete immunity to increasing temperature, the ability to create flames on surfaces within 20m for 1000 MP, and a form immune to physical damage.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The ability to combine elemental abilities for greater effect.**

 **Whenever an elemental ability is comparable to another they can be cast at the same time with new effects for 1000x the mana cost.**

 **Affinities for mixed elements are the average of the combined base affinities.**

 **Destruction Silhouette (Passive and Active)** **LVL2 EXP: 4.61% MP:99500 per second**

 **The ability to transform into an aspect of pure destruction, gaining the powers that would come with it.**

 **Passively increases taken damage by 10%**

 **Passively increases all terrain damaging effects by 10%**

 **Passively increases fire and lightning affinities by 10.**

 **Passively increases total damage by 10%.**

 **Actively transforms the users body into a contained maelstrom of energy. Allows 360 degree flight at running speed and grants immunity to physical damage.**

 **While in this form, the user is able to intentionally disintegrate materials with a touch.**

 **Disableable.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.  
**


	23. Sanity-7

**Bit disappointed none of you guessed.**

 **Except the power I'm talking about doesn't exist anywhere.**

 **Ta-da!**

 **Also, I found one of the skills I totally forgot about called Lotus. Derp. Since I deleted a bunch of skills anyway, just gonna cop out on fixing everything. Yes, I am lazy.**

Like many things in the universe, it happened fast and it happened in a way nobody can explain.

At least, yet.

One moment he was pumping aura into his eyes to see what happened.

And the next everything was different.

And the same.

The world he existed in was all still there, and he could see it with fantastic clarity as well. His vision seemed flawless, so his eyes weren't an issue.

But he was clearly seeing things.

Almost every surface in vision had black silhouette like shapes, obviously not human, on or within it.

The blob-like constructs were moving as well, although in a way that seemed random.

Despite the randomness, they were congregating towards people. In particular, they were near the freshman within the fire outside.

It wasn't every day you saw a sea of black within a flame.

 **"Do you know what black means?"**

Draga flips around, searching for the source of the voice.

A moment passes with nothing happening.

 _Okay..._

Just as Draga was turning back to the window, it speaks again.

 **"Do you know what black means?"**

 _Black? It's just a color.  
_

Since whatever it is doesn't elaborate or reply, Draga returns his attention to the mass of them within the fire. With a simple **Observe** , Draga learns jack squat.

 **?**

 **A construct of emotion.**

 _Game... Be less vague, thanks in advance._

Letting out a sigh, Draga turns to look at Spectra who was currently unaware of what he was seeing or hearing and just watched him flip out about 'the fight'.

"Draga? You okay? The fight isn't that unusual."

Draga responds as one would expect him to: with a simple comment.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just had some thoughts running through my head."

While she looks dubious about it, she doesn't question him further.

"I should probably get back to my team. They're gonna be assigning classes in a few hours."

She waves him off. He hadn't had the 'aura reaction' this time around, so she had no real reason to keep him there.

* * *

There was only a certain amount of regret people were able to feel.

And to Draga's surprise, he hadn't hit that cap yet.

Even though he wasn't gone for that long, Nora had apparently gotten worried, so her usual deadly hug was reinforced by that feeling.

Draga manages to escape before the attack kills him, which is fortunate because it would have easily gone long enough for it.

 _What the Deus? Is she on ultra-steroids or something?_

Speaking of steroids, would they increase his **Str** or at least the growth of it?

Questions for another day.

Since Pyrrha and Ren had nothing to say and Nora had said everything with the spine-splitting vise grip a moment prior, Draga splits from the other three to 'sleep'. Of course, being himself, that's not at all what he's doing.

 _If I got this... Strange power by pumping aura into my eyes... What if I remove the aura?_

Draga does just that, dispersing the aura around his body. This works, the removal of the aura returning his vision to normal. Of course, like all parts of the body, it needed some to remain.

 _Or does it?_

Draga continues the metaphysical motion, draining his eyes completely of his own soul.

 **Through special action you have unlocked the physical trait [Black Eye]!**

 _So... Is it the opposite?  
_

He takes a look around, and, sure enough, there are similar blobs to before floating around. A good guess is that since they are a construct of emotion, the white ones are good emotions. This is reinforced by Nora being literally swarmed by the things to the extent he can barely see her.

A quick **Observe** confirms that they are exactly the same in description at least.

An odd thing he noticed was that the silhouettes never touched anyone. They got close, sure, but they never touched or passed through people as they were obviously willing to do with the scenery.

It was at this time he realized the black ones had exactly the same behavior in that respect.

 _Why wouldn't they touch people?_

There was aura to think of, but being a nebulous thing it was rather hard to get definitive answers for its effects. They were emotion, and people obviously had emotions...

Draga splays himself on the bed, annoyed with the impossibilities he kept being forced to think his way through. It was every moment that something went unexplained.

 _How to find answers, though? It's unlikely anyone else knows these exist, much less how they work._

This was the issue with all his unexplained phenomena: they were unexplained. How were you supposed to learn something that didn't have a logic based answer and nobody else knew?

There was only trial and error, really.

Trial and error was a fairly stupid thing to do, when you think about it, but with his specific abilities there was little that could be done to him besides death. He still had three lives, too, so he had plenty of leeway with testing.

 _I will resolve this problem if it is the third-last thing I do._

That in mind, Draga leaves the room and searches for somewhere else with them. It'd be rather creepy to most to just reach towards them and Nora was a bad choice since she might take it as a hug.

First step in discovery was figure out how something worked, and the second: why.

It would also be best if people weren't unable to see what he was doing.

All of that in mind, Draga swaps back to **White Eyes** and heads outside to the still aflame field.

* * *

 _This guy should have forfeit hours ago._

Draga didn't have an aura measurement device or anything, but he knew that it protected and healed people. The fact that scorch marks were covering the 'mans' skin meant that it was already at critical levels.

Besides that, he had also been completely useless in fighting his opponent. Neither of them could see, which was why Draga was fortunate, but it was fairly stupid to fight like that.

It takes a bit before Draga finally gets in range and he's able to see their nameplates.

It was Coal and some higher grade student named Cinder Fall.

Based on how her level was invisible, it'd be fair to say Coal would still lose in a legitimate fight as well. Coal burns, after f-all.

 **Haha. Double pun. I just leveled up that skill.**

Passing Cinder without more than a cursory glance, Draga wades through the flames and towards Coal. He'd probably pull him out once he had what he needed anyway.

Draga tracks the movement of a particular phantom presence, trying to predict it's motions. When that fails, Draga skips all pretense of strategy in favor of speed.

Triggering **Aura** despite the inherent beacon he becomes, **Tiger's Tread** , **Lightning Aura** , **Lightning Shell** , and of course a maxed out **Acceleration** , Draga vanishes from sight and reappears within the shape of the black being.

* * *

Waking up without having gone to sleep was something Draga had already experienced, but both times his vision had faded to black.

This time around, he was one place and then suddenly waking up somewhere else.

Shooting up from the stone floor, Draga gets a look at what seems to be a massive featureless corridor.

One direction has a clear end, so he naturally travels the other way.

A few minutes pass like this before he hears something besides his own footsteps: a drop of water.

Draga picks up the pace, following the steady rhythm of the dripping. Doing this he eventually comes across a side passage from which the sounds are coming from.

Turning down that gateway, Draga comes face to face with something he didn't expect.

A person, and one without a nameplate at all as well.

It was a male around his height with light brown hair and a straight black pair of pants and a priests shirt complete with white collar. Wrapped around his neck was a hexagonal emblem of some kind which shared the same bright yellow color as his eyes. The only thing that set him apart from a normal human was actually those very eyes.

They were slitted.

 **"Hello, Draga."**

 _Well... That's not good._

Demons weren't typically the greatest of creatures to hang around with. Disboard had their own version of them and by god were they both horrifying to go against and work with.

Draga would know; he's done both.

"Hello. May I ask your name?"

Draga says that, but he also **Observe** 's him in a futile attempt to get some information.

 **"Do you know what black means?"**

Draga's eyelid twitches slightly at that.

"No. If black isn't just a color then I wouldn't know what it means."

 **"Black means hate, and I have a lot of it to share."**

The floor beneath the character becomes tainted with the same solid black as his dress shoes, coating it and gradually spreading out. Figuring that it wouldn't be the best place to stand, Draga starts walking back slightly faster than it's moving from the mysterious figure.

It smiles.

 **"No puppet strings can hold me down.**

 **So patiently I watch this town.  
**

 **Abnormal soon will be the norm.**

 **Enjoy the calm before the storm."**

The figure seeps into the pool beneath him, the speed of it's spread growing exponentially.

Draga tries to use his skills, specifically **Magma Chamber** , but as he cycles through them all, they amount to nothing.

He was normal here.

Making the bright assumption that fighting whatever it is without any of his powers was stupid, Draga turns around, ducks down, and sprints forward as fast as he can.

But it isn't fast enough. The black substance bathes the floor, walls, and ceiling in it's speedy attempt to catch up to him.

As the supposedly liquid hate reaches beneath his feet, Draga's feet stick to the ground beneath him before starting to sink. It's obvious from his struggles that it was thicker than tar and obviously inescapable.

Just before his head falls beneath the surface, he smiles.

 _One life gone._

* * *

Draga opens his eyes from the black... And see's fire. He was still within the field, rather than the skies of Disboard.

 _Was he just skipping the formalities?_

Draga shrugs it off.

Or he would, if he could shrug.

 _What?_

He tries to move, but fails

 ** _My bad. Here, let me get that for you._**

Draga's body shrugs, but he wasn't the one controlling his shoulders.

A trio of popups appear below with the standard notification noise. The...

 _What are you?_

 ** _I suppose you can call me Grim._**

The... Grim looks down to read it.

 **Through special action you have acquired the status effect [Grimm Affliction]!**

 **Through special action you have acquired the status effect [Puppet Strings]!**

 **Effects of [Puppet Strings] have been reduced by Gamer's Mind!**

 _ **Ah, so that's how you can still see. No matter.**_

Grim turns around and walks straight towards Cinder.

 _Grim? What are you doing?_

 _ **Nothing that you should worry about. Now, can you shut up? I like my peace and quiet.**_

Grim wasn't running **Clairvoyance** , so trying to see Cinder was rather difficult. All he could gather from the flames was that she was lying down on something that was apparently flame retardant.

 **"Hello, Famine."**

The fire around Cinder pulls away, forming a dome of clear space between the pair. She glares up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Come again?"

 **"Ah, don't be like that. I might not be your brother, but surely you can remember your own family."**

She sighs, a frown replacing her previous glower.

"Grim, why and how are you here?"

 _ **You're gonna want to hear this.**_

 **"A certain fool decided to leap into my way faster than I could move. He didn't even have his Aura active, much less actively protecting him. Can't be blamed for that, can I?"**

Cinder gestures to move along.

 **"Ah, yes. Why. Well, he just so happened to be in the area. Figured I'd get the rundown. Found Keter yet?"**

"No."

 **"Is that it?"**

"Yes. Ozpin is in the area and if there's anything I'd credit him with it's espionage. Just don't interfere with my plans."

 _ **Hear that kid? Free vacation.**_

 **"Alright. I'll be registered as Draga Konungur if you ever need me."**

"Oh yeah, and at least try and avoid detection. Not much they could do either way, but it'd be best for locating Keter."

Grim salutes, making his way through the flames and towards the school.

 _ **I really can't thank you enough. It's been centuries since someone was as stupid as you.**_

If Draga could while trapped within his own mind, he'd be glaring daggers at the... At Grim.

 ** _Curious? Tell you what. You shut up when I tell you for a few days, I'll even tell you what I am._**

Draga doesn't reply, since that would kind of defeat the purpose.

 _ **Good.**_

'Draga' heads inside, going to the cafeteria based on a map attached to the walls.

 _ **Hey, what do you know. This place must have a leadership program or something.**_

Grim makes his way to the counter and orders a mountain of food. Tet knows how, but it was payed for on Draga's scroll without comment.

 **"Ah, food. Don't need it, but it's delicious."**

 _Are you seriously gonna use my body for what is essentially a joyride?_

 ** _Yep._**

With that, he dives in.

* * *

 _IT'S BEEN AN HOUR!_

 _ **Yeah, but I don't feel full yet.**_

 _YOU CAN'T GET FULL WITH MY BODY!_

 ** _Cool._**

The cafeteria staff were watching in awe as Grim devoured everything inside and not only didn't get full but didn't seem to slow down either by getting heavier or by running out of room. They were having serious trouble even producing food for other students and since he was 'paying' for it there wasn't much they could do.

It was morning by now, so it was only a matter of time before schedules were released, but he'd continue terrorizing the building until that actually happened.

After finishing an entire watermelon, Grim stops.

 _ **Your body is really unsatisfying.**_

 _You know it._

It was rather odd.

Sympathizing with people like Sora and Shiro was really hard since you had to both have the intelligence and the circumstances that they were brought into.

Yet, a creature that took over your body and thereby had exactly the same problems was easy to.

 _Well, if he's taking my body I might as well get along with him._

 ** _Get along? Oh thank god. Everyone I've ever taken has complained to no end._**

 _Right... You can hear my thoughts._

 ** _Yep. Get used to it._**

The pair are interrupted by the appearance of another popup and the subsequent beeping in his pocket of a scroll notification.

It was the schedule.

 ** _Oh. Guess I gotta go to class. Vacation officially worse off._**

* * *

 _ **VACATION RULES!**_

First day of class and there was already gonna be fighting.

Well, fighting each other, but still.

Oh, and several classes happened before it.

History in particular... Ugh. How could an economic crisis that caused a great war in the PAST have any reason to exist now when such a thing was essentially impossible because of scrolls?

It didn't help that Grim didn't spend the time training, meditating, or at least doing something interesting.

Shortly before PT started, Grim's interest was apparently taken by Jaune and his team, so espionage was his go to.

 **(The following excerpt is taken from The Games We Play and won't count towards the word tally for my writing. I will mark the ending like this as well. Take note that this is being played from Jaune's perspective, not Draga/Grim's. I removed some of the text since it would spoil a bit for anyone who hasn't read TGWP. If you haven't yet read it, I really reccomend checking it out. Also, check it on Spacebattles Forum under the name Ryuugi, not FF, as the complete version is there. Just google the name and 'Disk Five' and it'll come up. )**

"Maybe you're right, Emerald," I replied anyway. "It's our first day, after all; the teacher will probably want to test us out some. We might even get to spar."

Mercury yawned, bored and hungry.

"That might be good for a laugh for…" He paused to mull over the though before shrugging. "Maybe five minutes? But I bet you it gets old _really_ fast. Fifty Lien says that once it becomes obvious that we're the strongest team here, this class is gonna get super annoying."

"No bet," Adam grunted. "But those five minutes of amusement are _mine_."

Mercury lifted an eyebrow and glanced at me.

"If we have some spars coming up and it's allowed," I began. "Adam called dibs on the enemy team."

"Dibs?" He repeated.

"It means he wants to take on the entire team alone," I explained. "You two can fight if you really want to, but Adam won't be happy. It wouldn't really make much of a difference, but… Adam's in a bad mood, today, so I'll let him take this one."

"Four against one?" Emerald asked.

"It's still unfair," I admitted shutting my eyes for a moment. "But can you imagine if _all_ of us fought? Now that'd just be cruel. Besides, it's unlikely the professor will do anything unless we show him how much stronger we are—maybe he'll let the others team up against us."

"That…might be fun," Mercury answered, the approval seeming to cost him something. "Mind if I go next?"

I opened an eye to glance at him in amusement.

"Go ahead," I replied with an easy shrug. "It doesn't really matter when I go, but I'm kind of holding out for the entire class."

Mercury whistled slightly at that, looking around.

"Think you can take that many?" He asked.

"Yup," I stated without any emphasis. "I'll ask the professor about it when I get a chance, too. I'd like to establish who's in charge as quickly as possible so that there are no misunderstandings down the line."

"Hm," Mercury hummed in thought, bobbing his head towards me in acknowledgement, but the professor walked in before he could ask anything else.

"Hello, class," He said as he entered, ignoring the conversations that quickly came to a halt anyway. He was an elderly-looking man, with grey hair and wrinkles set deep into his face. His skin was bronzed from a life of work and his eyes were a shining, intelligent brown. Given the prolonged youth that Hunters tended to be blessed with—assuming, of course, that they lived long enough to enjoy it—his appearance said a great deal about him, especially combined with his name.

 **The Trainer of Heroes**  
 **LV103**  
 **Kaus Toxotes**

Like Ozpin and my grandmother, his name didn't seem to correspond to a color—most likely because he predated the trend that the Great War had started eighty years ago. Added to that, his level…

"Now, I think we all know why we're here," Kaus said, clapping his hands with a smile. Despite his age, his hands looked strong and his voice carried throughout the room. "I'm Dr. Toxotes—or Dr. T, if you prefer. As it happens, I know many of you already and you may remember seeing me with your parents at some point. For those of you who do, allow me to explain; odds are that I taught them when they came here, because I've been a professor here for nearly seventy-three years now. So, be warned that I'm not afraid to call up my old students if you misbehave."

He lifted a finger, but the smile on his face was amused.

"That having been said, I like to think I have a fairly good track record when it comes to students," He continued. "And I'm pleased to be here to teach you. You'll likely see quite a bit of me in your time here at Haven and so long as you give me your best, I will give you mine. Whoever you are or whatever lead you here, that you _are_ here is what matters. You are the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses and I will do everything I can to make sure you're up to the task. Hunters, you see, are not born, they're _made_ —as are teams."

At a snap of his fingers, the lights in the room began to dim, except for the lowered, circular area at the bottom of the auditorium—the ring.

"So," He said, eyes beginning to glow. "Let's get to forging. We'll start with a few matches, to see where you all stand. Are there any volunteers?"

Adam's hand rose at once.

Dr. T glanced his way, looking my friend over with only slight surprise.

"Adam…Knossos, was it?" He asked. "From team JAME?"

Adam nodded once, rising slowly from his seat and cracking his neck. The entire classroom immediately focused on him, but he merely looked back, expression…not quite calm and not quite hungry, but something in between.

Dr. T looked down at his scroll, glancing at the notes his words had automatically brought up. It must have been connected to the school's database, because the screen showed Adam's profile, including what few notes there were about his performance in initiation. I felt the professor grow intrigued at what little was there—both because there was so little there and because of the reason why. Adam and I had breezed through the test so quickly there wasn't much to talk about.

As the person in charge of our growth, it was only natural that Kaus would want to unravel the mysteries around us. Perhaps that's why he immediately played along.

"Very well, Mr. Knossos," He said, smiling. "Thank you for your enthusiasm. Is there anyone willing to fight Mr. Knossos?"

"Actually, sir," Adam interrupted smoothly before anyone could reply. "If it's alright with you, I'd like to issue a challenge to a team."

Dr. T blinked once, surprised at the bold proclamation.

"You mean…" He began before hesitating and shaking his head, changing his mind mid-sentence. "I apologize Mr. Knossos, but we won't be having team battles today."

"I don't want a battle between teams, sir," Adam replied, shaking his head. "I simply wish to battle _a_ team, to make things interesting. Four-on-one."

Whispers raced through the classroom at his proclamation, tones of surprise, anger, intrigue, and annoyance mixing together into a sea of background noise. As they began to speak amongst themselves, Adam quietly looked down, gaze matching the professor's.

"I see," Dr. Toxotes said at last, contemplating Adam for a long moment before nodding. "Such… asymmetrical battles certainly aren't unheard of—for advanced students who know their limits."

"I know my limits," Adam answered, glancing my way. "I'm just not one to accept them."

Apparently, that was the right thing to say.

"Very well," Dr. T replied with a smile, stepping back to take a seat on his desk. "What kind of professor would I be if I asked you not to try and overcome your limits? My job is merely to see that you do so safely and to help you along the way. If you wish to test your ability, I'll give you a chance."

Looking away from Adam, he slid his gaze across the rest of the class.

"In truth, I hadn't planned on starting team battles for another week or two," He admitted a moment later. "But adapting to changing circumstances is also part of being a Hunter. Is there anyone willing to answer Mr. Knossos' challenge?"

There was a long moment of silence before another hand went up.

"Ms. Gronn?" Dr. Toxotes noted, glancing at the young woman. "May I assume you're speaking for team TEAL?"

Even sitting down, I could tell that she was a tall girl—as in, taller than I was, and built to match. The weapons at her belt appeared to be a pair of overgrown tonfas, with the side that was normally blunt covered in wicked spikes and the ends resembling the barrels of a gun…which was exactly what they were, so. The professor mulled over her for a moment before glancing at the three boys beside her. Even without the words above their heads, I'd have recognized them as siblings by their facial structure, brown hair and eyes, and the similar symbols each bore. Hell, they even had matching _stubble_. I wonder if they coordinated their shaving.

 **The Bridge and the Toll  
LV39  
Toril Gronn**

 **I've Got Two Spears**  
 **LV 31**  
 **Ethan Bruise**

 **And I've Two Curling Stones**  
 **LV 35**  
 **Aaron Bruise**

 **I'll Crush You to Bits, Body and Bones**  
 **LV 40**  
 **Laurence Bruise**

Settling his gaze upon them, Adam smirked once and began to walk down to the arena, confidence in his stride.

"Oi," I said, stopping him lazily, closing my eyes and chuckling slightly. "You're not planning to tear them to pieces with your bare hands, are you?"

Adam paused for a moment before grunting with a shrug.

"Might as well," He answered with a roll of his eyes. "Consider it a handicap to make this a bit fairer."

"Now, now," I chided. "As the team leader, you're my responsibility—I can't very well let you fight without a weapon. Here, you can borrow mine until your replacement arrives."

I tossed him Crocea Mors, sheath and all.

"Just remember to bring him back when you're done," I commanded. "And don't make too much of a mess."

Adam snorted dismissively and rested the sheathed blade on his shoulder. By the time he completed his short trek down to the arena, his opponents were already waiting, with the girl looking eager and the boy's put-upon. I sort of felt bad for them, considering what they were being dragged into.  
"Remember, this is just a sparring match," Dr. T said once they were all ready. "I know you're all eager to fight, but you're also allies; whatever happens, stop once your opponent's Aura reaches the red and be careful not to inflict any serious injuries upon each other. Other than that, Mistral rules apply."

I saw several students smirk at that. Mistral rules were pretty simple—the first one to die, loses. Or, in this case, the first one to go down; either way, he was essentially saying that anything goes.

"Now…begin!"

Adam launched forward the moment he had the go ahead, twirling Crocea Mors deftly before grabbing it by the sheath. Thrusting his hand forward suddenly, he launched the sword from its sheath, jabbing the youngest of the three brothers—Ethan—hard in the sternum with its hilt. Almost the moment the attack drove the younger boy back a step, Adam was upon him, sliding low and swinging with the sheath, knocking his feet out from under him. At the same time, he reached up with his left hand and grabbed his borrowed sword, rising even as he spun it like a windmill.

Seeing the attack on his brother—or, at least, seeing Adam abruptly in his brother's place—Aaron twisted in place and grit his teeth. Ports opened up on his curling ram-horn helmet even as a colored visor slide down to shield his eyes, and a series of Dust rounds began to launch from it, guided by the targeting system that had been built into the device.

Even so, he was too slow to react to Adam's flickering approach. Characters and calculations scrolled across his visor, giving him a moments warning as Adam brought his sword low to his right and swung it in a wide arc. He backed away at the last second and Adam's attack hit only air.

Granted, mostly because his left hand no longer held a sword. In mid-swing, he'd released the blade before continuing the motion of his attack as if he held it—and then, even as the first 'attack' completed, his right hand curled around its hilt and followed up, attacking from a completely different angle.

As the second brother went flying back, Adam's free hand snaked back around and grasped the sheath his right had released. With a quick button push, the shield began to expand and he threw it towards the eldest brother, momentarily obscuring his vision. Taking advantage of the opportunity to close in, Adam slammed his left hand into the back of the shield, smashing it into the younger man's face before making it retract back into a sheath with another button push as Laurence stumbled back.

Grasping the sheath like a second sword, Adam jabbed its end into the boy's stomach to force him even further off balance before angling Crocea Mors like he was preparing to hammer a nail into drywall. Thrusting it forward, he drove it straight into the sheath with enough force that Laurence's feet lifted into the air—but he did even have a chance to fly away before Adam grabbed the sheathed blade, spun quickly, and slammed it into the back of his head hard into to send cracks through the floor.

Cracking his neck as three bodies touched down, his eyes fell upon the final member of the team and he approached with calm, steady steps, slowly drawing his blade.

The fight ended moments after it began.

 **(And the excerpt is over.)**

Grim smirks at the ending, having enjoyed every moment in slow motion. He might not use Draga's powers continuously, but he could always take advantage for the good things in life.

Like watching four people get completely obliterated in a fight.

While Grim cheered for Adam, everyone else went silent. From the teacher to the students in the floors above, there were a plethora of stunned or shocked faces. Gradually, the expressions changed towards ones of curiosity and a few out of annoyance towards the still cheering 'Draga'.

A quick glance confirmed that the only blank expression was Jaune's, although Grim payed no attention to it.

 _ **DUDE! That was awesome. Let me get in the ring.**_

 _I wouldn-._

"-Very good, Mr. Knossos," Dr. Toxotes said, breaking the silence at long last. "You may return to your seat."

 _Mr Knossos?_

Adam grunted, raking a hand through his hair once before making his way towards the stairs, leaving the fallen team behind. The professor glanced at his back and then down at his fallen students before heaving a sigh and collecting them. As he scooped them up into his arms, a misty-white glow incased his hands, healing the minor injuries Adam had dealt.

"Well," Dr. T continued as if nothing had happened, clapping his hands again. "Who's next? I need more volunteers."

Jaune raised his hand. Surprisingly, no one else did.

The professor let several seconds go by in silence, waiting for someone else to do… anything, really. When no one did, he glanced at his student and raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Arc," He stated, the information on our team still on his scroll. "Would I be correct in assuming you would also like to challenge a team?"

"No, sir," He answered at once. "If possible, I'd like to fight the rest of the class."

As murmurs burst around the room and people exclaimed in outrage, Grim shot up from his seat with enough force- and increased speed from time manipulation- to land on the center of the stage.

 **"Come on, pretty boy. Let's go."**

Jaune smiles, and it's not a smile one would enjoy if they cared about their life.

Grim didn't.

Or at least, Grim didn't care about Draga's.

Kaus gestures for Jaune to come onstage, which he doesn't do.

"Someone wishing to challenge me by themselves. Sounds like fun, but I'm quite alright from here."

Jaune raises his hand into the air and ceremoniously swats it down.

* * *

Nothing happened.

 _What?_

 _ **Fool. You think I'd just let him hit me?**_

Grim glances at his status window in which a good 20,000 MP was missing from his bar, leaving it at half.

 _ **Your Reinforce is a pretty neat skill. Gotta see if I can get my hands on it later.**_

Draga audibly sighs, although only Grim can hear it.

 _You're in my memories?_

 ** _Ah, but that would be telling._**

Draga's surprise is only matched by the visible surprise on Jaune's face. It fades almost instantly, but it was there.

Grim smiles, beckoning Jaune on stage.

 **"You wanted to prove your strength to everyone here by taking on the class. Surely I'm not too much?"**

The interlude served two purposes: possibly anger his opponent and goad him into doing something stupid and regenerate some MP.

Jaune seems to glow slightly, a minor white twinge to his being. To the audience, exception being Kaus, it would seem Jaune teleported in front of Grim and placed his sword against his neck.

Fortunately, Grim knew similar tricks.

Tearing Draga's fancy sword from his **Inventory** in the time it takes Jaune to make it there, he meets his opponents blade head on.

And subsequently gets blown over by the force of the impact.

Grim flips around in the air, catching his free hand and the tips of his feet on the ground in order to slide in a controlled manner. Once proper footing can be achieved, Grim blasts forward in a similar burst of speed to Jaunes, crudely slashing straight down.

Jaune reacts easily, throwing his blade into a horizontal defense above his head while pushing his hand forward into Grim's stomach.

Just like that Grim is sent flying again.

 _ **This is fun, kid. You should play with your powers a little more.**_

Grim forces his sword into the stage to catch himself, flipping around his sword and sending himself flying at Jaune once again.

Like before, Jaune reacts last second and ducks around Grim. From his advantageous position he grips his wrist and forces it downward in an attempt to end the fight right then.

Grim smiles on the way to the ground.

 **"Ba-bye."**

Grim glows vibrantly, the light becoming blinding, and just before he hits the grown it flares.

* * *

 **God, it took far too long for me to get to this.**

 **Shit just got real twice in a row.**

 **Normally in TGWP Jaune ends up fighting the professor who he blasts through the floor with that single attack.**

 **However, while Kaus is durable as hell because of Aura, Aura doesn't negate the physical forces.**

 **Reinforce does.**

 **BAHAHAHA. FEAR THE POWER!**

 **Except it's super expensive and doesn't work well with Accelerate...**

 **I will do the Castle In The Sky chapter next, but I got caught up in the plot of this chapter that it kinda took over everything. Since nobody is really reading it anyway, I figure it's cool to work on the relative beacon of viewers.**

 **If you want Draga's profile, just go to the last chapter. It hasn't changed besides the following two status effects.**

 **Grimm Affliction [MAX]**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**

 **Puppet Strings [MAX]**

 **A Grimm has taken control of your body.**

 **The Grimm controls all movement of your soul and body.**

 **You're senses don't reach you. [Negated]**

 **Temporary.**


	24. Sanity-8

**Due to popular demand (IE one person wanted me to make more FT and nobody said otherwise) I have decided to work on Fickle Things for a while. It's the most interesting one to write anyway, so that's totally cool with me. Review or message me if you guys actually want me to continue the other works or they're just gonna sit in a bin for a while.**

A high pitched shrill emanated throughout the room and deafening everyone within it, accompanied by an equally impairing blast of light that scorched the stone the room was built on.

The sound and light were soon followed by a third effect: an explosion tearing out the supports to the room and causing it to fall into the cavernous area below.

The fall did little to help the many students that had to listen to gravity.

There was only one who didn't, and he was currently looking down on Grim from above.

"You idiot."

Jaune raises his hand into the air with slightly less ceremony than before, the remaining pieces of what used to be the stage and seating areas to the battle arena lifting with it and putting themselves in place. Any piece that needed replacement was molded from the ground beneath the room.

The only student who wasn't brought up from below with the reconstruction merely watches it with a satisfied smile on his face.

 **"You know you love me."**

Jaune doesn't visibly react, which was good since Grim could still see him.

Just before the stage was fully reassembled, Grim shoots up from his current location, through the hole in the floor, and back onto the main floor.

The entire room is completely in awe at the two students, including Kaus. Well, except Draga.

 _You idiot._

Seems he and Jaune were on the same page here.

 _ **You know you love me too.**_

Eventually, after what seems like an hour to the impatient demon, the people in the room finally recover mentally from the shock and physically from the attack itself.

Somehow Kaus makes himself audible over the shouts of the collective student body.

"What was that technique?"

Grim shushes him, even going so far as to play a finger on his mouth.

 **"A magician never reveals his techniques."**

"Yes... Well, I believe we can call class off now. I'm sure many of you have partially depleted Aura's from that, so it wouldn't be fair to continue."

Kaus dismisses the students, but literally holds Grim and Jaune within by the scruff of their necks.

Releasing them once the rest of the students leave the room, Kaus starts his lecture.

"Draga, you are reckless. Far too reckless for me to just let slide. If Jaune here didn't have a power suited to fixing the arena as he just did, you'd be paying for the reconstruction and weeks of labor needed.

You, Jaune, aren't exactly out either. While I thank you for patching up the building, I saw how you didn't bring Grim back up. If he had been injured from that attack as was easily possible, he might have died down there."

Not ignoring, but not saying anything about, the implied threat just beneath the room, the pair merely nod at the professor.

"Alright. Don't do it again around anything we'd care about breaking, okay? Buildings can be repaired, but people aren't nearly as easy."

 _ **This body is getting boring again...**_

 _What does that matter to you? You could always find another one, right?_ _  
_

 _ **Yeah... But what'd be the point of that? We're bros.  
**_

It's not audible or visible, but Grim can somehow still feel Draga's glare.

 ** _Tell you what. You're annoyed because it's your body, right?_**

 _Yes..._

 ** _Well, it's simple then. I'll just have another one._**

 _I don't think letting you possess someone else is the solution I'm looking for.  
_

Ah, sarcasm. The greatest of tools.

 _ **Not what I meant.**_

* * *

 _I stand corrected. You aren't an idiot._

Grim beams, a proud smile on his elevated face.

 _You're an asshole._

 ** _Hey, I never meant to get your hopes up._**

Grim was standing in front of a mirror, planning to use it in much the way Draga had back on the storefront. If nobody knew it was him, what could the problem be?

 _Yeah, well I still hate you._

Grim smirks, rolling his eyes at the image of himself.

 _ **Of course you do.**_

Draga merely watches on, slightly bored. Grim was just kind of standing there.

 _ **You know how to work this game, right?**_

 _Sometimes it just does things. Usually I'd recommend a reboot, but that isn't really possible here.  
_

Grim sighs, pouring his attention into figuring it out on his own.

Having nothing else to do, Draga starts thinking.

And then is interrupted when proprioception (sense of your bodies location in relation to itself) goes haywire, leading him to believe he was suddenly four inches taller and with more defined musculature (Although, because of the game that would mean nothing to his actual strength).

 _What?_

Draga returns his attention to what he's seeing, and the changes were startling. While that of course was surprising, there was something slightly more so: that he couldn't perceive the editor when Grim used it.

It wasn't important, but it was slightly annoying.

 _ **Happy now?**_

Grim had taken the same form he had before, in the strange stone place that still hadn't been explained. There was exactly one odd detail, his left eye was slitted horizontally rather than vertically.

Grim stretches, seemingly stiff from the transformation.

 _ **Well, I'm gonna go have some fun.**_

* * *

 _ **Your body sucks.**_

That had been the theme of the night

Grim went to a bar, which despite his age he was allowed patronage (Hunter perk perhaps?. Unfortunately, he found himself immune to the liquor within.

He later discovered a lack of sexual urges, his flirting turning into a genuine conversation that he just bailed from.

Even more annoying to him, he couldn't find anyone worthy to fight. Everyone was either absurdly overpowered or peons in comparison to his current power level.

He did find something he wanted to do eventually, however: bowling.

Yep. Grim liked to go bowling.

He wasn't bad at it either. A few hours passed of him just getting strikes and spares every game.

He even reached the record for the joint which was, thanks to a few hunters a couple months back, the maximum score possible.

But that was it. What could you do after that?

 _ **Kid... I'm gonna be straight with you. Your life, and by conjunction my own, suck. Don't get me wrong, your powers are awesome, but what are you even gonna do with them?**_

 _No idea what to say to you man. A creature without form doesn't want my life because it's boring? Well sucks to be you.  
_

Grim actually sighs, confusing the person next to him who was currently 80 points behind.

 _ **Dude, I stole your body because you were an idiot. I'm not supposed to, but you pretty much forced me to. I figured that I might as well have some fun, but no. The universe sent me you.**_

Internally laughing at the demons use of 'dude', Draga detachedly replies.

 _Does that mean I can have my body back?_

 _ **Not exactly my choice. I tried after I found out you couldn't get drunk, but it seems the game rooted me here. Probably part of the status effect thing.  
**_

Draga mentally facepalms hard enough for Grim to feel it.

 _Great._

Grim scratches his head, flinging the bowling ball in his hands down the lane and somehow getting a strike despite not looking.

 _ **At least you have a life, man. You can do things normally while I'm just stuck flying around. I'm not even in the Keter plan. I was only told about it.**_

He doesn't elaborate further, so Draga goes to a different point.

 _You mentioned telling me what you are. Mind doing that now?_

Grim smirks, both in real life and mentally.

 ** _I am a construct of emotion.  
_**

The smirk grows into a complete shit-eating grin, intentionally pissing Draga off.

Grim's amusement eventually fades since Draga doesn't react in any meaningful way.

 ** _Right... Well, I'm gonna call it a night. Might come up with something to do in the morning._**

* * *

Grim was apparently one of those hated people that could fall asleep instantly. Draga was still aware of his surroundings when Grim was out, but since he had no control over his eyes he still couldn't see anything.

 _He's not even grinding **Clairvoyance** , the idiot._

Completely blind, Draga was left to stew in his thoughts for the six hours it takes for the game to wake him up.

At least he wasn't in pain. Grim had arrived in the room shortly after Nora was asleep, so no devastating crushing injuries for him.

 _Tet, please don't let this be it for me._

Nothing happened... As it did for the entire sleep cycle.

 _Guess this is it then..._

* * *

 _What?_

 **You completed a full rest!**

 **All temporary negative status effects have been purged!**

Draga tentatively tries to move his arm, to which it responds.

 _ **What are you doing?**_

Draga reacts on instinct, leaping back from a threat which wasn't there.

 _Oh... Great. Still there._

A notification shows up in Draga's view, informing him of Grim's attempt to take him over again.

 _Oh no you don't._

I would put a flashback here, but that'd just be filler. Instead, I will simply point you to the conversation with Cinder last chapter and remind you that Draga is both able to hear what Grim does and is fairly intelligent.

Draga activates his Aura, the feeling of strength it carries with it washing over him.

Despite the satisfying feeling using the skill provides, he already knew something was wrong when he used it. Every time he'd seen his aura before it was white.

There were black and red streaks along it now.

 _WHAT DID YOU DO!?_

To both Draga's dismay and relief, Grim doesn't reply.

Draga glances around, noting that the people in the room and the nearby ones as well were alerted by his use of Aura. Problem is, if he disables it Grim could take him over again.

As a last ditch effort, Draga tries infusing the aura he normally blasts away in waves within **Babel** directly.

It seems to work, the brightness given off by the skill dimming. Unfortunately, the strength that typically comes with his Aura also declines.

 _Well, at least it's not blasting everyone awake._

Draga sighs, glancing at his open menu's. Finding his status page, he scrolls down to find that while **[Puppet Strings]** was missing, **[Grim Affliction]** was still present.

 _Guess that permanent wasn't just for show._

Draga sits back down on the bed, splayed out in both relief and exasperation. He breathes deeply before closing his eyes, but then a realization dawns upon him.

There isn't normally a sword at his neck.

Draga calmly opens his eyes, fully aware that the attack would probably be meaningless.

"Yes? What is is, Pyrrha?"

Her newly revealed glare softens slightly at the use of her name, but the blade goes nowhere.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Draga raises an eyebrow, but glances down at his body anyway.

 _You idiot._

Draga was still in Grim's preferred form.

"Ah. One moment."

 _Appearance 2._

Draga's body is hit with that same sensation as before, but lessened thanks to know it was coming. Pyrrha acts as one would expect when someone is spontaneously somebody else.

She panicked.

To her credit, she didn't scream or cry out anything, but her eyes and the new hole in Draga's throat kind of gave it away.

"Hey, that hurts you know."

It was said jokingly, but the sword-spear-gun up against his vocal chords somewhat altered the... Everything about it.

Apparently someone you know supposedly dying because of you and a genuinely natural reflex wasn't exactly good for a person.

She ran.

At least she took the weapon with her, allowing Draga's neck to exist once again.

Draga coughs once to clear his throat before standing up from his bed.

 _I probably shouldn't chase after her. She might think I'm a haunting specter or something, and knowing this world so far they probably exist._

The other occupants of the room, Ren and Nora, were missing and in a coma-like state respectively, so Draga walks out the door to go outside. Breakfast would be soon, and even if he didn't need nutrition, there were probably buffs relating to good food.

* * *

There was, indeed, a buff for eating a lot of healthy food. God knows how Grim never set it off, but it might have to do with his aversion to eating the salads they offered.

The buff was pretty nice, granting 40% increased physical and 20% increased mental stats for four hours. The only issue was that with his current time rate at 9x speed the buff lasted an actual 36 minutes. Not all that great, but that was a problem he had brought on himself.

As he continued eating, he had been surveying the students, and was rather confused by what he saw.

Lunch gathered everyone from all grades in the school. On average, freshmen seemed to have levels in the twenties to thirties, sophomores in the thirties to forties, juniors in the forties to fifties, and seniors in the fifties to sixties. There were obviously outliers, the stars of their years, but what really broke the mold was how almost his entire class was 15-20 levels above that spectrum.

Hell, Nora's level broke his personal charts so she was at least level 86.

His meal is unfortunately interrupted, as one would expect as a reader of this fanfic... Like, I do this all the time. How would you not be able to predict that 'shit happens' by now?

"I heard you totaled the Indoor Arena, along with Jaune. Might actually form a worthy opponent."

Draga glances up at him, idly biting into a piece of the block of meat they somehow described as a slice here.

 **[LVL81]**

 **Fionn Fiamma, The Giant's Causeway**

As pleasant as a good fight sounded, Draga wasn't exactly interested in it. The guy was less than fifty levels above him, so his powers were still visible with **Observe** ; he used telefragging.

That's right. He used the thing Draga was ultimately suited not only to combat but at one point also use.

It wouldn't be a fair fight at all. Just looking at the guy, Draga could tell he had roughly the same Aura as himself, but that wouldn't be enough. Draga's regenerated at a frankly unbalanced rate. Hell, if he wanted he could even turn 4/5 of his HP regen into MP regen or vise versa.

At least, that was how it was for the moment.

"It's against the rules to fight in the cafeteria, so take it outside. Mind if we join as well?"

Draga turns to see Jaune standing beside a smiling man in body armor. When he turns to see him, Draga notices something that wasn't there before... A completely trashed half of the cafeteria and what looks like rather sizable craters.

 _How did I not hear any of that?_

Draga shakes his head to relief himself of any doubts before turning to his new opponents.

 **[LVL84]**

 **Albus Arcturus, The Once and Future King**

Similar to his buddy, his abilities were readable on the Observe.

 _You know, that brings up an interesting point. If people normally know information, can I get at it without the needed levels?_

That was the most likely possibility, at any rate.

The newcomers powers were a lot more complicated. It was called Aturan and it gave him the power to create rules over the area he was at. The rules had limits, such as he couldn't affect things that weren't alive with them, but it didn't go into too much detail.

 _Hmmm..._

Yet again, a new person joins the fight, although at least Jaune was technically invited by the telefragging guy earlier.

"I'd be down for a good fight. Draga here ruined my first shot at proving myself by obliterating the arena, but if I beat all three of you..."

He leaves the ending for us to fill in ourselves.

A spark lights in the two senior students.

"Alright. Come on."

They turn around and sprint outside to where the 'fight' happened yesterday. It was over by now, which was good as the fire would have made this a lot more one sided.

Jaune vanishes from his location, appearing outside a moment later.

 _Fine..._

Draga readies himself in a ready position, intent on showing off a little. What was the point of superspeed if you never ran really fast?

The moment arrived; a sophomore at the school opened one of the doors to the training ground.

Draga vanishes from his location but, unlike Jaune, Draga did it in a burst of speed. A cloud of what he hoped was dust and not a shredded cloud of the floor blew into the air behind him, shifting tables and rattling silverware across the building. As he blew past the unsuspecting sophomore, who was unfortunately too close to his 15x full speed lightning enhanced run, he was sent right back out to where he came in a hail of wind.

It was over in an instant, but it also wasn't. All anyone saw of him was a bolt of lightning, but it was shortly followed by a much slower effect that masked him even in his stance.

 _Man, what's the point of this kind of superpower if it blinds you the moment you stop?_

There was a point to that. The shrapnel that formed from the dirt trail he tore up behind him spun around him in an almost tornado-like effect which unfortunately sent some of it into his eyes. If not for both his **Aura** and his totally-balanced-I-swear **Gamer's Body** , he'd have been permanently blinded by his own attack.

There were creatures on Disboard capable of preposterous speeds, but they were all incorporeal while doing it so they didn't even kick up a dust trail.

Apparently, even that wasn't impressive enough for the people to have anything but slight eyebrow raising among the crowd.

 _Huh. Speedsters must be more common than I thought._

He hadn't seen anyone else with superspeed, but it might just be that their powers are more taxing than his own. Normal bodies needed nutrition to move, after all.

Hax I say! Hax!

"Shall we get this started?"

_ cracks his fingers while stretching, supposedly doing something to start the fight and or looking for confirmation.

 _Apparently he can do both._

 **New rule! Attacking someone older than you will reflect damage back!**

"Sure."

Draga spins while pulling out the Lunar Assault Blade for extra dramatic effect. The aesthetic it brings with it is only enhanced by the spiral of blue streaks left in the air by the plasma component of the blade while being powered. When he stops the spin, it's pointed straight at Albus's smug face.

"After all, you can't expect that to stop me."

It fires, a ball of what looks like electricity flying straight out. Albus doesn't dodge, letting it impact his chest directly without a change of expression.

Or rather, it only changes when it lands.

 _Fool. I am 22 years old, probably 23 if increased time rate counts._

While he falls over, his junior 'friend' vanishes from his location and, unlike Jaune's delayed transport, instantly reappears within the youngest of the groups body.

The Aura coating them both blows them apart, preventing lasting harm from occuring on either, but it was obvious that both parties suffered significantly to their reserves.

But then something odd happens. Jaune's reserves were filling back up. It wasn't a preposterous rate, like Draga's own, but it was still way beyond what Albus and Finn were doing.

And then another odd thing happens, but at least it was something he could expect based on his previously shown abilities.

Jaune flies.

 _Great. His telekinesis applies to himself as well. What could be more balanced than that?_

Of course, Draga recognized there was some hypocrisy to that, but **Electrical Silhouette** was offline for quite a long time unless he finds some cheesy way to level up his **Aura**.

Jaune and Albus trade simple blows for a moment, Jaune's aura diminishing again but replenishing just as well. Jaune floats back a bit, his dramatic flare showing showing with his obnoxiously slow but also pretty much unstoppable- if his lack of reaction to all hits so far was to say anything- movement of his arms.

When they, as a pair, reach the bottom of their arc, gravity seems to multiply on all of them.

That wasn't a huge issue for hunters, at least at the level they were working at, but it would certainly make it harder to fight someone who can fly.

And then the other two start flying.

 _OH COME ON! They can both fly now?_

A chime goes off when Albus leaves the ground, signalling a new popup.

 **New rule! People in their last two years of Beacon can ignore gravity at their leisure!**

 _Wait... He can screw with the fabric of spacetime? What kind of broken semblance is that? It even surpasses my own for Tet's sake._

Draga turns to look for other students magically floating up, but see's none.

 _So either it's something they have to willingly activate or it has a maximum range. Good to know. Also good to know that they are working together._

Draga sits down on the used-to-be-grass, trying to enter a meditative state while **Clairvoyance** gives him vision of the world despite his closed eyes.

Bastards that they are, his enemies don't let it happen. Just as the effect triggers and certain teleporter appears inside his body.

 _Hook, line, and sinker._

Draga simultaneously triggers **Flaming Shadow** and **Lightning Shell** , intentionally not mixing elements as Destruction has proven to be quite the force to be reckoned with, in order to damage the idiot more.

As the pair are blown apart, the other two act. Jaune attacks Draga, blasting from his location to slam a blade into Draga's chest. The blade breaks through, the speed being far and away enough to cleave straight through him. Being a Gamer, Draga is simply drained of a large chunk of HP rather than killed instantly.

The teleporter isn't quite so lucky. Having already been shocked, lit on fire, and suffered the aura cost of two telefrags, he was woefully unprepared for his midair momentum to be stopped instantly with a knee to the spine. Aura dropping into the red, he was out.

And then there were three.

 **Guys, guys, guys, guys. Guess what.**

 **I am a stegosaurus.**

 **Obviously, I'm kidding, but there is some news.**

 **Good news or the bad news?**

 **You can't answer so I will do the bad news first.**

 **The bad news is there is no good news.**

 **So there is no news.**

 **WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?**

 **All futile attempts at comedy aside, another chapter has been completed. There's not much to say as nothing really important happened in my life and anything important in the chapter is, well, in the chapter.**

 **Just because I need to mention it, an Aura can be suppressed by any %, and the effects of the active are reduced by that %. Currently Draga is working with 30% power and the remainder going into Babel.**

 **I wonder how that will work out. *Nudge nudge. Wink wink.***


	25. Sanity-9

**Why do so few people review my fic? I've gotten to 11 so far with 25 chapters and over 100k words.**

 **Anyone who reads this sentence and hasn't reviewed, you get a half silver star. Everyone who has gets a gold star. I want reviews for more than just getting more publicity (though it is nice). Give me actual feedback and criticism like I thank a few of you for. Complain if you want. ANYTHING- except flaming, of course.**

Draga lights himself on fire, providing just enough of a break in Jaune's assault to leap backwards. Albus flies past him, aiming for where Draga was a second prior.

They'd been at this for quite some time now. Albus took virtually no damage the entire time and both Draga and Jaune seemed to recover from any injuries.

Of course, Jaune was never really hurt significantly. Worst he ever got was being knocked back.

The spectacle seemed far more impressive, however. Fire, lightning, and the wind bombarded the training ground, scorching the dirt to an extent that it actually burned through it. People gathered around to watch the swordplay and a betting pool seemed to have started.

Despite all of that, the fight was fairly uninteresting for Draga.

How could you get entertainment if nothing you did seemed to have any real impact and everything they did to you was easily recovered from?

At least, it had before a certain notification popped up around 5 minutes into the fight. He'd had no chance to recover and fix whatever it did, but he had been able to read the first part of it, IE the title, within the minuscule breaks in their attacks.

 **Through special action the class [Berserker] has been unlocked!**

Ever since it appeared, his MP regen had dropped by a stupid amount, now generating only 200 or so a second. It was far harder to fight with only 4% of your normal MP.

Draga sidesteps another swing of Jaune's blade, flipping around as he does so to kick him in the back and send him stumbling.

Jaune recovers two steps later, his sword already in a motion towards Draga's head.

As Draga ducks, he suddenly feels a searing pain in his side. A cursory glance as his once again missing spine forces him to fall shows Albus actually drew his weapon, a broadsword.

Light glowed along the blade and its guard, shining blue in the light. As it did, he drew the sheath as well, flipping it once and catching it as it began to unfold into a wide shield with a large blue lens at its center, revealing more Dust as it was fed into circuits along the shield. After a moment, a shield of semi-transparent blue energy formed in front of it.

"Destroy them with lasers."

In response, the game helpfully puts that exact song as the background music.

The wait for Albus to make his move is only around 20 seconds, but with his time being tripled (And his MP reserves being drained because of it) the moment the statement made goes off within the song, the fight is on.

 _Man, the game really has a sense of timing._

Jaune continues to ignore Albus entirely, focusing on Draga instead with his continued barrage of sword strikes. Albus reciprocates the idea, bombarding him repeatedly with beams of blue energy.

Draga manages to dodge most of the assault, but an unfortunately high number of blows strike him anyway.

 _This damn class is gonna get me killed._

His HP gradually depleting, Draga attempt to retreat from the fight, only for a new rule to appear.

 **New rule! No standing on none-dirt surfaces!**

 _Well, that ends that idea._

Draga falls backwards to the ground, flattening himself to dodge a particularly large blast from Albus. Before he can recover, he's forced to roll out of the way of a falling strike from Jaune.

While Draga rolls, he stiff-arms himself into a rough sprinters position before going straight for Albus.

As expected of a shield user, Albus's first reaction is to put the barrier between him and his enemy.

Unfortunately for him, Draga had just enough MP for one Destruction spell.

He chose **Destruction Shadow**. As he impacted the energy barrier, Draga's body came alight with a vibrant white and orange glow, the edge of which cut through the force field and blasted away his physical shield.

 _Huh... It didn't just get deleted._

He didn't have time to dwell on it as the skill passes and Albus starts recovering from the shock. Taking advantage of his dwindling upper hand, Draga lunges forward and knee's at Albus's slowly retracting head.

Landing a glancing blow, Draga destabilizes him just long enough for a round house kick.

Just as Draga's leg is about to make contact with the back of Albus's defenseless neck, Draga's leg is caught by... Nothing. Or so it seems.

How it seems doesn't really matter much as the grip flings his leg upwards, sending Draga careening into the air.

While spinning wildly in the air, Draga gets several glimpses of Jaune raising his hand into the air above his head.

 _This is gonna hurt._

Jaune slams his hand downward, a giant phantom hand following his actions and knocking Draga through the ground faster than he can react.

This hit was harder than the last impact, something that would be obvious to anyone with half-functioning eyes and a few brain cells. Draga wasn't just in a little crater, he was inside a human shaped hole carved several feet below a crater.

Before the dust clears, and Draga even becomes visible, Jaune's face turns to one of concern.

 _But... He completely ignored the last one of these..._

Jaune sprints for the hole, the dust funneling out of the space rather than settling thanks to his power. He stops at the edge, his eyes looking down to confirm that the hole was indeed empty.

Draga had vanished.

* * *

"We really have to stop meeting like this. At this rate you are gonna die, you know."

Draga doesn't even bother opening his eyes to talk with Tet, just resting himself on one of the many floating cubes that pervade the skies of Disboard.

"You know, I agree with that. It is, however, a bit hard when my power is actively causing deadly fights to be more likely."

Tet chuckles to himself at that.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Don't build **Luk** next time. I will, however, offer you a deal. I put in a system that could allow some lives to be regained but in exchange you permanently lose your elemental form skills."

Draga tilts his head to glare at him, only then looking at him.

"Why would I take that?"

Tet smirks, laughing once in a mocking way.

"Hm... Why would you want to not die? Your life is terrible."

Draga rolls his eyes at the sort of annoying deity, but eventually nods anyway.

"Send me back."

Tet does a simple salute before the world fades to black once more.

* * *

Draga's eyes flip open, already being assaulted by the air. It takes a moment for Draga to process the newly contructed world around him before he realizes just where he was.

The sky.

 _Welp... This is gonna hurt._

Draga's HP and MP stores were filled out, so Draga pops everything he can to increase his durability and waits. After all, **Reinforce** would be stupid to spend mana on while not about to hit anything.

Turns out, he have to wait that long. When he was about 20 feet from the ground, the floor helpfully came to him.

Or, rather, Jaune created a slanted platform, almost like a slide, for Draga to land on.

It didn't work well.

The slant turned just enough of Draga's downward momentum into sideways momentum to not kill him, but he'd have been better off without it.

"What did you do? You just fell from the sky after being sent into the ground."

Draga, lacking any way to answer him properly, bullshits his way out of this.

"You'd be surprised what I can make you believe."

Draga stands up, looking directly into Jaune's eyes despite the slight height difference.

 _Appearance 4. Appearance 2._

Draga's body flashes to Grim's chosen form for a split second, providing just the touch he needed to convince Jaune that it was a trick. His lack of injuries was also pretty important, but that was more of a passive thing. He didn't control his Gamer powers, so he didn't count them as something he used.

Jaune backs off, at least in a figurative sense. He didn't even seem to react to what Draga did, which was in itself rather odd.

"I'm gonna go. It's been fun."

Jaune only watches Draga go for a second, his attention returning to Albus. Draga might be gone, but the fight wasn't over.

* * *

Draga had multiple reasons to leave by that time. First of all, classes were going to start soon and he had some things he wanted to check before that.

There were always questions, and most never had answers, but he had found two that had answers he could get on his own.

It just required a bit of smart thinking and time or broken game mechanics. Either worked.

To test if he could use the latter in this case, Draga sat back down in the only slightly repaired cafeteria and messed with his aura again. Still doing it to his eyes, Draga drained the aura from one and pumped more into the other.

The **Black Eyes** trait came first, although it should have been **Eye** for there was only one. The second took a bit longer, the suppressed aura slowing the process down.

Fortunately, he had quite a lot of time. This process didn't use any MP to actually do, so he was free to meditate and use **Acceleration** to make it as fast as possible.

Of course, **Scales** was also involved. The new class he had seemed to grant high HP regen, so there was at least that.

Once he got both, a new pop-up appeared. It was both intriguing and terrifying.

 **Through special action the physical trait [Gray Eyes] has been unlocked!**

Interested in what this meant for things like Grim, Draga took a good look around. Unfortunately, his expectations were dashed as no gray constructs were seen floating around. He did, however, see both of the others, which was odd since each eye should have seen them separately by he saw both across his full field of vision.

It was comforting, though, that most of the blobs were white. A school should have a good emotional and mental state be the norm for their students.

That was only one experiment, and one he'd probably leave disabled outside high speed actions because they did obscure things.

The other one was, as one might expect, his class. More specifically, if he could change it back and what having it be something other than the **Gamer** class meant.

Clicking on his class from his status menu, he actually gets a dialogue box that explains the class unlike the prior one.

 **Berserker [Class]**

 **Warriors have existed since time immemorial, but none have been more feared and more powerful than that of the Berserkers. Using unrivaled strength, speed, and stamina the Berserkers charged headlong into battle and decimated anything in their path.**

 **Any MP regeneration beyond 200 is converted to HP regeneration.**

 **Increases damage dealt by 100% while charging or otherwise heavy engaging.**

 **All combat styles and physical techniques become free or have their MP costs reduced by 50% respectively.**

 **Unlocks the skill [Rage].**

 **Unlocks the skill [Savage Glee]**

Draga does the annoyingly long scroll down his skills tab to arrive at the new ones.

 **Rage (Active) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Rage comes in many forms. You happen to be one of them.**

 **Allows you to actively enter a rage once a day. Whilst in a rage, you are immune to all mental status effects, deal 100% increased damage with melee attacks, and don't feel pain.**

 **Savage Glee (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Sadism is natural for most life forms, but you happen to be better at it than most.**

 **Restores 10 HP and 5 MP whenever any unit besides yourself takes damage.**

 _Cool, the first kind of lifesteal I've gotten. Don't really like the first skill very much since rage gets in the way of proper strategizing, but it may have it's uses._

Draga closes the tab, it's usefulness having diminished.

With nothing left to do for discovery on the differences, Draga stands up and heads to his first class.

* * *

 _Why are people so incompetent?_

Class had begun a few minutes ago, and it was invariably clear that people weren't exactly the best in their fields. Down on the stage below, a blindingly white girl was fighting a Borbatusk that was twenty-six levels below her and losing.

A quick **Observe** revealed that it had a weakness underneath it's belly, something one of her partners helpfully shouted down at her a moment later.

That was the other thing. Her team was supposed to act as moral support, and by Tet were they trying, but their attempts were only distracting her further.

Just before she gets trample by the annoying pig-like Grimm, Weiss creates a rune beneath it which launches it into the air and repositions herself so it will be impaled on her rapier upon falling.

Her rough strategy that Draga refuses to call a plan works as one would expect, allowing the creature to die easily.

"Ha. That'll show you-."

The statement turns into mumbling after that, but Draga can get the jist of it.

 _Who's Jian Bing?_

Unfortunately, Weiss returns to her seat without another word and since the seat is on the other side of the room Draga is forced to stew on the information.

 _Based on how she acted, I'd say it's a rival of some kind, but the resentment points it more towards someone who defeated her._

Class ends without any further entertainment, which really blew, but at least he got to talk to Weiss now.

As he steps outside to follow Weiss, he turns the corner to see her already gone.

 _What? Oh for fucks sake._

Using **Clairvoyance** , Draga was able to see Weiss blurring her way to her room.

Obviously she wasn't looking for company.

 _Ugh..._

What's most annoying is that he didn't even get to **Observe** her since his enhanced vision didn't change what was the first thing in line of sight.

 _You know what, screw your privacy. I'm done dealing with this shit. Paranoia has only ever kept people alive._

Draga turns back to the room, scanning his classmates. While doing so, he repeatedly spams **Observe** on every person there.

While a few aren't visible, such as his teacher and Jaune, Draga gets a tab on most of the people there.

He would repeat the same with his next class.

And the next.

And so on.

Since he was probably just gonna spend the time meditating thanks to Grim showing just how boring and useless each of the classes were, he spends the time reading each of these pages instead.

While doing so, he notes that something about his memory was different. Prior to joining the game, he could remember important details flawlessly but everything else just blurred into a kind of haze.

Now, all the information was just sort of there for his brain to pick out to think about.

 _Is the game messing with my memory itself, or am I messing with it?_

That was another issue. With his stats and skills messing around with everything, it was rather difficult to prove what exactly was responsible for any changes that occurred.

Although it mattered little.

 _It's not like the game was just gonna up and vanish._

Draga freezes, glancing around and waiting to see if it happens. Knowing his luck, Draga knew that it wouldn't be beyond Tet's purview to screw with him like that.

Fortunately, it doesn't happen. Letting out a sigh of relief, Draga returns to his reading.

Most of the profiles granted were really boring. The students, even the impressive ones, had mostly simple aspirations and upbringings and their strength was born from their powers.

 _Much like mine._

It wasn't really a problem for him. Draga had long ago grown accustomed to his power being his defining feature. He might have held status in Disboard with his gaming prowess, but that was irrelevant here.

So now his Gaming prowess was the important part.

 _Hehe._

Since the fights weren't going to start for a while, Draga continues his various scans of the building. Eventually, he gets around to Cinder Fall, the senior that Grim spoke to.

Just looking at her, there wasn't much to suspect. She looked beautiful, which was an understatement, but in a reserved kind of way. She was wearing a red tight fitting dress with slits in the sides to allow proper leg maneuverability. For purely observational reasons, Draga had his **Clairvoyance** active and it allowed him to see into and through it.

The clothes were almost half Dust.

Her dress was red, the same color most of the Dust had, and it seemed that the different shades weren't merely for decoration but for different mixes of the volatile substance.

Further observation revealed that the same applied to her bags, her shoes, her hair, and... her underwear.

She went in deep trying to hide her weapons apparently. At least, Dust was probably her weapon since she didn't have anything else on her that could be used for it.

The biggest point of interest, however, wasn't in her clothes.

It was in her.

Now, call it creepy if you may, but important information can be acquired by examining a persons body... Thoroughly... Everywhere... Shut up.

Regardless, she had a strange black crystal embedded in her back. It seemed like something he'd seen called Dust Crystals when **Observe** -ing some peoples weapons, but black had never been a color. So far, he'd only witnessed five: Fire, Water, Lightning, Air, and Earth depending on the color it was.

It didn't help his suspicions that Grim actively called her Famine instead of Cinder, something he could see above her head.

 _Better approach her cautiously, but she's definitely doing something. Best to know the plans around you, good or bad. If push comes to shove, I can probably feign being Grim._

Draga leans back in his chair, patiently waiting for the class to continue. The teacher had set up 1v1's for the lower tier students, and despite how action packed those usually were, they didn't display strength comparable to his own.

Especially Pyrrha. It didn't even seem she...

No, she's using her semblance. Magnets create electricity, and he could sense that, so he could tell when she used it subtly and last minute to beat the friction-negating dude.

Speaking of, that was an awesome semblance. Can you imagine getting to a running speed, using that, and just standing as you move forward at that speed?

Pretty cool.

Shame it was a semblance, because otherwise Draga'd be using the technique himself.

After what should have been an hour, was experienced as 3, and felt like a thousand, the class finally ends.

As the students start filing out, Draga stands up like normal, but, rather than file on out, he leaps up to one of the higher floor bleachers with a little boost from **Tiger's Lunge**.

From there, Draga briskly walks towards Cinder and-.

"We need to talk."

 _Oh. Okay._

Draga follows Cinder outside, coming to a stop on a rather empty clearing of an exterior platform.

Cinder turns to face Draga, a blank expression on her face.

"Draga."

Draga takes a moment to think of how to approach that before he mentally facepalms. Fortunately, a moment to him is less to everyone else.

"Cinder."

As if on cue, everything seems to freeze in place.

 _Oh, great._

Cinder smiles, slightly too wide to be comforting.

"I've always wondered what a god tastes like. I gotta be honest, I thought you were just a strong human. Never thought Conquest of all people would have already known you were Keter."

Draga's vision blurs slightly as the air vibrates. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, Draga could still see as two almost clear dust crystals of a massive size break from her shoulders out an opening in the dress that he hadn't given much thought to. Many smaller crystals follow suit, not reaching much beyond her skin.

"I must commend you. I expected you to be grovelling on the floor by now."

 _Okay... Who the hell is Conquest and what is Keter? How can I play this off knowing neither?_

An unfortunate realization comes up... He probably can't.

"Come again? Last I checked I wasn't named Keter."

Thank Tet for Gamer's mind.

Unfortunately, the comment only seems to slightly diminish the overwhelming pressure she seemed to emit.

"Don't be coy with me, boy."

Draga shrugs, which apparently was the wrong answer. Halfway into moving his shoulders downward, his entire body is frozen in time as well.

"I guess you're gonna make this slightly harder for me, then."

She raises her hand, the appendage lighting on fire after a moment.

"There are a lot of interesting things about time in physics. My personal favorite is what happens when you push a none-gaseous substance while like this."

Cinder walks towards Draga, although somehow her shoes don't make any noise like before.

"Resistance can only happen while time is allowed to continue. If I apply pressure to your chest for example, it will cave with absolutely zero effort."

To emphasize her point, she presses down onto his sternum with an open palm, the effect she described taking place.

"Best part is, you can't recov-."

She is interrupted a moment later by a simple thought by Draga.

 _Appearance 4._

Draga's body is suddenly replaced by the new appearance, replacing the missing space in his sternum as well as making him look like Grim.

 _Please work... Please work... Tet please._

Cinder smiles in a way that seems far and away from being characteristic of her.

"So you weren't messing with me..."

Her head tilts slightly at the neck.

"I'm sure you won't mind a little punishment, then, brother."

 **Man, I just realized I should get this out. I've been working on something for a distant chapter that's gonna take a shit-load of work. I won't go into details, but I have to create an entire video game. UGH.**

 **Anyway, I hope your sadism is willing to show up next chapter. It'd make it far more entertaining, I assure you.**

 **If you're wondering about the rapidity of plot points, may I direct you to the door. I created skills specifically to make these things have more encounters on top of the world and the fanfiction of the world I am parodying already having high event density.**

 **Shush.**

 **Without further ado, I leave you with exactly 0 changes to his profile outside his class. Once again, feel free to check out his previous profile on Sanity-6. I have a game to develop.**

 **Ciao.**


	26. Sanity-10

**BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.**

 **Proceed.**

Cinder had only ever been shown to be a calm and collected person, both in public and in the privacy of her room.

While gentleness wasn't something you would associate with her, overwhelming sadism wasn't either.

But you know what they say; everybody lies.

"AHHHHH!"

"Shut up you crybaby."

Cinder tosses yet another torn off chunk of flesh into the distance, it combusting at the edge of vision.

She had been torturing him excessively for around an hour by this point. It started with nails, all 20 of them. Gradually, she upped the ante while forcing him to use the heal himself.

It seemed, though, that she wasn't gonna let him die. Time was passing, albeit at an astronomically slow rate, and because of how mechanics like **Acceleration** interacted with his HP regen he was just fine physically and his body would continue to recover the skin and muscle tissue for as long as she liked.

His mental state was another thing.

 **Gamer's Mind** apparently wasn't equipped for continuously applied injuries. It would make the pain fade, but not in time to give him a reprieve because there was always more.

It's actually hard for me to describe the absolute agony he suffered in the fraction of a second that actually passed.

The closest I can get is to say that the pain wiped out all other sensations.

He at least learned one thing from it.

 **Rage** requires you to actually be angry.

That kind of sucked for him since his emotions faded rather quickly and, in this case, pain trumped all other feelings.

After what felt like eternity, Cinder finally ceased the overly long torture session.

"Alright, shows over. It was fun for a while, but you recover too quickly, Grim."

Draga coughs out some lingering blood before replying in a rasped voice.

"Sorry to disappoint."

A fraction of a genuine smile graces her lips before being smothered by her usual, for school, anyway, unreadable expression.

"Come back soon."

As the sentence finishes, she seems to melt away into nothingness.

 _Why does everyone but me have a teleport ability!?_

As time resumed around Draga, he was already back to creating plans.

But then a realization dawned on him...

His body was physically fine, what with his completely ridiculous HP regen at the moment, but he still felt lingering sensations from the last hour of his life.

So if the pain wasn't gone... **Gamer's Mind** hadn't been working.

In a panic, Draga looks down at his clothing in abject horror.

It wasn't recovered either.

 _SON OF A-._

The thought process continues for quite some time, but I think you get the idea.

Finally, Draga manages to get a grip on his outburst. It was rather hard to handle emotions when a system had been taking care of it for...

He stops.

 _How long has it been?_

He'd spent around 12 days on the various planets, but with **Acceleration** , **Electrical Silhouette** , and of course his most recent experience with time manipulation, it had probably been about a month and a half of experienced time.

That was quite a while, actually. 12 days to 45 brought up a few questions, most of them completely useless like how he would keep track of his birthday, but one of them was useful.

 _How far could I go?_

Normally Draga was limited by the clause in **Acceleration** that said 'Does not increase MP regeneration'... But his new class completely bypassed that when combo'd with **Scales** by making it into HP regen.

He'd found an exploit.

It took 710 MP to create an extra second, increased to 888 due to the use of scales. With his current MP and HP regeneration, he could easily create 3 seconds with 1 second of regen...

 _Broken hax abilities away!_

Before the game can realize the monster it unleashed on Remnant, Draga was already ruthlessly exploiting his ability for experience grinding. He sat meditating with every ability he could think to level up active.

Only a few seconds passed in the real world, but that was more than enough.

 **By increasing the level of [Acceleration] to 100 the skill [Tachyon] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Stampede] to 100 the skill [Trample] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Aura] to 100 the skill has evolved into [Aureola]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Soul of the World] to 100 the skill has evolved into [Breath of the World]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Phantom Visions] to 100 the skill has evolved into [Fantasy]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Mage Armor] to 100 the skill [Magic Coating] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Elemental Connection] to 100 the skill has evolved into [Elemental Presence]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Fire] to 100 the skill [Gluttony] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Lightning] to 100 the skill [Wrath] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Air] to 100 the skill [Pride] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Lightning Aura] to 100 the skill [Call Of The Storm] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Lightning Shell] to 100 the skill [Lightning Release] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing the level of [Astral Flail] to 100 the skill has evolved into [Langit Sanjata]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Blind Fist Mastery] to 100 the skill has evolved into [The Blind Fist]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Tiger's Tread] to 100 the skill has evolved into [White Tiger's Tread]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Tiger's Five Hundred Years] to 100 the skill has evolved into [White Tiger's Five Hundred Years]!**

 **By increasing the level of [Clairvoyance] to 100 the skill has evolved into [Extrasensory Perception]!**

Besides the evolution's and newly unlocked skills, **Electronic Nerves** also maxed out.

There was no other way to describe the feeling that came over him after that.

Terrible.

He had no way to explain why he felt that way, but he did. His aches from the torture session were gone and he felt more powerful than ever, but there was also a lingering wrongness in his general gut area.

The feeling passes shortly, soon to be replaced with a much more recognizable problem: Hunger.

He hadn't been hungry in ages.

There were other things as well, like a headache that was slowly developing in his parietal lobe.

Then, there was a feeling of lethargy.

It felt like all of time had passed within that second, and to be fair it would certainly seem that way. A quick look at his status profile would reveal a few glitched values because they had trouble loading infinity.

Of course, there was always questions... Like why every evolved skill had 0% experience.

Sorting through the ton of pop-ups in his mind (note that **Extrasensory Perception** was still active so he could see all of them without moving them out of each others way), Draga comes across one of particular interest.

 **Exploit discovered. Berserker class disabled.**

Well, that answered one question.

The ramifications of the game recognizing the exploit weren't finished there, either. He takes a glance back at his status and, to his dismay, his MP bar was exactly where it was prior to the exploit being used. Panicking for a moment, Draga checks his skills menu and confirms that they are still there and still maxed.

 _Whew._

Relief washing over him, Draga goes back to his menu's. Since **Berserker** was disabled, he might as well swap back to **The Fifth Gamer**.

As he pressed on his class tab and selects his old one, Draga is denied by a big red 'X' and an annoying error sound effect.

 _Just a glitch._

He repeats the action, and the game returns it in kind.

 _If it glitched once it can do it again._

When he's denied a third time Draga's eyes flare with literal fire.

"You are _NOT_ taking this away from me!"

Interrupting Draga's first attempt at hurting the physical manifestation of the game, a person clears their throat.

"Who are you talking to?"

Draga doesn't turn since he doesn't need to. His newly acquired sensory skill gave him the one thing he really wanted since he unlocked **Clairvoyance** : perception behind him.

Although, when I say that, I do need to bring up that it isn't 360 degree vision. It's better described as perfect sensory reception.

He could tell who it was by their footsteps if he'd payed attention, but he didn't so the voice was needed.

"Hello, Ruby."

Draga stands up straight, stretching for a moment to crack his back. Once the discomfort fades, he turns around to a slightly startled... Is she still a child at 15 years old? Puberty hadn't hit her like a truck yet, and no he wasn't looking in those areas on purpose, his new power lacked the ability to ignore information.

Hey, at least Draga wasn't doing it just to be perverted.

Ruby recovers well, returning to her previous curiosity.

"Hi. So... Who were you talking to?"

Draga smirks, gesturing to the world at large with a broad sweep of his arms.

"Well, there's always nobody around."

She looks dubious but lets it go in favor of another topic.

"Well, you seem fairly strong. Wanna fight?"

Draga bursts out laughing, it taking well over 15 seconds to pass.

"I'm-ha-I'm sorry. It's just... After all I've been through, that is-haha-the funniest thing I've heard."

He continues laughing lightly for another few seconds, much to Ruby's dismay. She stomps her feat while making a pout-y face which doesn't really help in stopping Draga's moment of levity.

Unfortunately, his fit of laughter is interrupted by a nagging pain in his head.

 _Ugh..._

One hand reaches up to grip his head while he uses the other one to stand back up.

To deter the newly formed migraine, Draga disables **Extrasensory Perception** and spams **Cleanse** on himself. Once the pain has duled, he manages to collect himself.

"Okay, Ruby. I'm gonna be straight with you. I am far too powerful for you to have a chance to fight against."

He nurses his temples for a minute before it finally fades.

"Besides, didn't you see what happened during me and Jaune's spar?"

She gasps, holding a hand over her mouth, and mumbles something barely audible to Draga's ears.

"I thought it was special effects..."

 _I see I have been underestimated._

"Tell you what. I already know your semblance is a speed boost. How about a race instead?"

She smirks, confidence soaring.

"Last one to the dorms is a rotten egg."

She vanishes in a burst of rose petals, but to a certain chronomancer it wasn't nearly as spontaneous.

 _I wonder how long I should wait..._

A single petal touches the ground, and Draga cracks the concrete below him as he sprints down the halls, ending up in... a close loss.

 _Drats._

As Draga tries in vain to stop his momentum while looking coordinated, the seemingly unfazed Ruby lets out a victory cheer.

In response to the natural incline of happiness in the area, Nora, a natural predator, appears within the doorway. As her eyes peer into the depths of the hallway, and in turn the depth of your soul, she stalks ever closer.

"I sense gloating."

Ruby turns to the new voice, excitement still in her eyes.

"I won. Me. WHOOOOOOO-!"

Draga, ears quivering in pain, dampens her mood, and by translation her volume, with a touch of **Pathokinesis**.

"We raced. She won from a photo finish."

Mentally, Draga finishes the statement with 'because I gave her a headstart', but for diplomatic reasons he doesn't bring it up.

In response, Nora raises an eyebrow and starts nudging him.

"Ho ho. A loss for the mighty warrior?"

Draga replies as one would expect him to against the devil-woman.

"Stop."

Different from expectations, however, Nora actually does stop.

"So... What now?"

Draga turns to Ruby, a cute thinking expression gracing her face.

"Well, I am hungry."

Draga becomes a blur as he uses the same burst of speed he used earlier to arrive at the cafeteria, unfortunately making him even hungrier.

Nobody pays him any mind as he gathers up what only a bitterly sarcastic individual would describe as a serving of food and sits down.

Okay, technically they kept their mouths shut and eyes diverted so they didn't attract his ire.

While he consumes over 16 times the recommended caloric intake for a physically active 300 pound man, he gets a moment to look over his skills. (You can find them at his profile at the bottom.)

 _Huh... That was actually a lot more profitable than all my work combined, but not nearly productive enough for an infinite amount of time._

Although, it was true that he was banking on infinite mana, but it was really obnoxious that almost all he got was upgrades to already existent skills instead of new ones.

There were a few of particular note, though.

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL3 EXP: 14.85%**

 **The inborn ability to perceive the world through the broad senses of the mind, rather than the limited ones of the body. Takes many forms dependent on the mentality and natural abilities of the user, but can grow with time and training.**

 **Expands Clairvoyance to encompass low levels of Clairaudience, Clairalience, Clairsentience, and Clairgustance. Improve by increasing level and INT.**

 **Clairsentience allows touch-range abilities may be used at a range of 5.1 meters.**

 **Other abilities will be unlocked with higher levels.**

It was quite the bounty in terms of sensory skills. The way it was described, he'd essentially have the **Clairvoyance** perks of increased range and gradial perception on every sense.

 _It also levels up pretty quick for what's technically a level 103 skill._

Or was it?

 _What... What if every time I get an evolved skill the experience system resets it?_

Draga checks back on the new form of **Aura** , and, sure enough. it was leveling really fast.

Then there were the three that came from his elemental skills.

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Just as consumption is the way of fire, so too is Gluttony the way of life.**

 **100% increase to Str.**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Just as destruction is the way of lightning, so too is Wrath the way of life.**

 **100% increase to Damage.**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Just as the sky is the way of lightning, so too is Pride the way of life.**

 **100% increase to Wis.**

They were strong, no doubt about that, but they were also against all Draga stood for in his previous life. It was literally the polar opposite, since he'd lived his life to help others and entertain himself. That was his entire life.

 _Wait... It says it's not protected from, not that I will feel it. Now I just feel the natural flow of those emotions, right?_

He's brought out of his thoughts when he realizes his 'plate' is empty.

Getting up to deal with it, Draga dismisses the windows. His skills were nice, certainly, but there were still more experiments to conduct.

He'd left it alone due to how weak he was previously, but **Grimm Affliction** supposedly offered new skills to him.

 _Grimm abilities sound pretty cool, despite how weak they are._

 **Note: Draga hadn't encountered anything above a borbatusk or Beowulf by this point.**

Unfortunately, his attempts at using **Aura** to do anything fail horribly. Okay, that's not quite true, but the only skill he got out of it was completely useless since all it did was awaken the Aura of others in exchange for a ton of MP... You know, what he could already do.

 _You know, it's kind of odd that I got that skill without actually awakening anyone's Aura here._

Shrugging it off as just the game being crazy, Draga downs a quick glass of water on his way out the building. The Grimm aren't gonna kill themselves.

* * *

 **You have entered an instance dungeon: The Wasteland**

 **Exit while boss is alive is prevented.**

 **Current boss: Goliath**

 _Well... I hope it's a different Goliath than the one in the Enchanted Cave. That'd just be boring._

Draga makes his way through the forest, idly smiting the few young Beowulves stupid enough to attack him. They didn't drop anything, but a notification told him that he'd gained a tiny bit of money from each which was put directly into his scroll.

 _Neat._

Sure, he probably wouldn't use much money since the food at school was either free or payed for by the government (Like... How was the food fight payed for? Or everything else? HOW!?) and he didn't need anything else as of yet.

Draga is interrupted from his casual musings by the sound of a tree collapsing nearby. Sure, the sound might not be that unusual in Remnant, but he hadn't been here long.

What was unusual was the giant Beowulf sitting on the fallen giant's corpse.

 **[LVL26]**

 **Alpha Beowulf**

 _Man... Not even a title enemy._

Draga shoots forward, slamming a heavily empowered fist into it's face and blowing it into and through a few tree's. To it's credit, it doesn't scream or whimper out in pain before death.

Draga shakes his hand to douse the lingering embers from what could only be described properly as a FALCON PUNCH! while he makes his way to the Alpha's body, or rather it's loot since the body itself was already evaporating.

What Draga finds is rather underwhelming, but so was the fight, so...

 **Serigala-Gajah**

 **The mask of an Alpha Beowulf. The effects and orgin are unknown, but both are interesting.**

There's also a winking face by the last part to he can guess that Tet is fucking with him again. Bait though it may be, it was the kind he was willing to take.

Unfortunately, he had business for now.

Letting out a sigh, Draga triggers **Extrasensory Perception**. The headache was worth it to not spend a few years exploring the wasteland to find a Goliath.

Turns out, one was rather close. Surprisingly close, considering he hadn't heard it before now.

Using his enhanced hearing, he could still barely hear the towering elephant-like Grimm.

Now, he didn't want to kill it quite yet. He needed to see what it could do and, in turn, what he could learn.

As such, Draga doesn't snipe it from a distance with lightning. Instead, he calmly walks up to the majestic beast...

And then shoots it with lightning.

The cry of both anger and pain it lets loose cracks the sky, albeit only by distorting the air that makes it up to make it look that way.

 _I am gonna need new ear drums._

Fortunately, his sensory skill, which was already causing a migraine to form... The damned thing, allowed him to hear anyway.

The Goliath was quite obviously unhappy.

 **[LVL68]**

 **Goliath, He Who Shakes The Earth**

 _A challenge has begun._

Draga starts the fight by using **Langit Sanjata** to create two of the old Astral weapons he used: Swords on chains.

Swinging them in broad arcs, Draga deflects or deters the Goliath's attempts to just bat him away with it's trunk.

"Come on you horrific bastard. Show me something cool."

The Grimm seem to be fairly nice today, because it does so.

The Goliath aims it's trunk in the air, a black viscous fluid blasting out of it once in position. The fluid, in turn, produces strange bird like creatures labeled as Nevermore by the game.

The raven-like creatures swarm Draga, gouging him in various locations as they fly past. Draga returns the favor with a quick burst of **Lightning Release**.

A sphere of blue energy spreads from Draga's location, shocking everything it comes into contact with. As many of the newly created birds fall, they fly into action.

The birds form a massive wall of black, coalescing into what looks like a giant black mass. A moment later, a new creature was born within it.

 **[LVL46]**

 **Giant Nevermore, The Wings Of Captivity**

Draga smirks at the giant bird, lifting a hand towards it and firing off several white streaks into its newly searing flesh.

The damage the attack does is minimal, the beast apparently being resistant to the damage type he was using, but physical damage was another thing. The wings and muscles scorched, the creature begins an unfortunate descent to the unforgiving ground below.

As it falls, Draga's smile goes with it.

"Man... Do something cool."

Just before the Nevermore crashes into Remnant's surface, the Goliath sprays it with the oil-like liquid and that liquid repairs it's injuries.

It was back in action.

Acting on instinct alone, the Nevermore turns from it's high speed dive into a high speed horizontal flight, the wind beneath it's wings providing more than enough lift with it's terminal velocity to work with.

As it flies overhead, it does something that actually takes Draga's intrigue, although it isn't something he'd likely be able to learn.

It impales him with a giant feather.

Draga goes flying back into a tree, the stem of the massive construct pinning him to the surface. While he tries to break it, the Nevermore manages to recover from it's hasty save and take aim once again.

More follow it's predecessor, pinning full arms or legs to the same tree.

 _That's one sturdy ass tree._

Draga turns his head, which fortunately hadn't been hit yet, and notes with a grimace that the tree had a nameplate too.

 **[LVL58]**

 **Gheist**

No title, so it's high level was still that of a mook.

 _Sweet._

The only thing that could possibly mean is that somewhere a super-monster that might actually be able to compete with him was lying about.

But, there was always something that required more attention at the time.

Draga uses **Lightning Release** again.

 _That's probably gonna become a primary ability now._

The feathers crumble to dust under the energy released, and the possessed tree lights on fire, causing it to back off for a moment.

Free from his bonds, Draga takes a step forward and allows his regeneration to push the remaining ash from his chest.

"You all are certainly interesting."

A tree smashes Draga from behind, but knowing that it was coming due to the sound it moved with, Draga takes advantage of the momentum it gives to launch himself towards the Goliath.

The Nevermore was coming back around for another spray of feathers, so it was unable to defend the Goliath from Draga's assault.

It was just him and the giant elephant.

Just as he makes contact with the Goliath's oversized gut, Draga lights up his body with his first complex element: energy, the combination of air, fire, and lightning, using the frame of **Flaming Shadow** as a catalyst for the ability.

There was a flash of light, and then nothing.

 **So... I had plans for another powerleveling arc. I've gotten minimal feedback, but what I've gotten has said it was terrible. While trying to come up with a way to circumvent this, I found an exploit in my own game.**

 **Boom. Problem solved.**

 **Of course, since the game wasn't supposed to have exploit, I made it patch the problem shortly after it started.**

 **Unfortunately, I had to do a lot of math, and he's completely ridiculous. Just off Pale Lightning alone, and his ridiculous stats, of course, he could probably wipe out most of the canon characters with zero effort. Nora, obviously, would be the exception to that rule since she can absorb lightning.**

 **That in mind, I decided to take advantage of what TGWP set up.**

 **Doomsday.**

 **Over the course of the next few chapters, Draga's not gonna get a whole lot stronger.**

 **But his enemies are.**

 **BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **Some of you may have a lot of questions. I will answer quite a few within the story, but feel free to ask away.**

 **And I came up with a few edits to the profile down here. The profile will all abilities, but unless they change the skills will only display the first line. Since there are a number of skills that won't change ever, those will only have their statistics in the original chapters (For now anyway).**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: [X]**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 13575**

 **MP: 203305  
**

 **Str: 85(731)**

 **Vit: 55(271.5)**

 **Dex: 19(163.4)**

 **Int: 100(430)**

 **Wis: 50(430)**

 **Luk: 50(50)**

 **Points: 0  
**

 **Height: 6'1"**

 **Weight: 182 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [X]**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVLMAX EXP MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 100**

 **Current total affinity: 200**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0 (DR)**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:50, 50 per second**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a** **power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 330%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 330%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 330%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 330%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 330%.**

 **Additional 330% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 330% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 330% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0 (VIT)**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **Elemental Presence (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Nature is the combination of elements, and by becoming one with the elements, the force of nature has been unleashed.**

 **Grants 1 affinity in all otherwise blocked elemental affinities.**

 **Grants a Nature affinity equal to the average. of the other six elements.**

 **Unlocks skills marked as 'Nature' type abilities.**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:500, 500 per minute**

 **Lightning coats the users body, enhancing their abilities.**

 **Passively grants the user 100% higher Dex.**

 **Actively grants the user 610% higher Dex instead.**

 **Actively increases total Str by 100**

 **Actively grants the user immunity to electrical damage.**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVLMAX MP:10, 10 per second**

 **The users nerves now flow with electricity instead of their normal chemical signals.**

 **Passively grants the user instant reaction time for nerve related functions.**

 **This ability is always active.**

 **Increases base Dex by 100 for reflex challenges.**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:5000, 500 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **The user has attained elemental mastery to an extent that it has become a part of his soul.**

 **Passively grants the user 100% higher lightning affinity.**

 **Actively grants the user tripled Dex bonus from Aura.**

 **Actively halves Str bonus from Aura.**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP: 50, 50 per 3 seconds**

 **By coating the exterior of their bodies in magic, wizards have been defending themselves for harm for millenia. The user is just taking advantage of all their hard work developing this technique.**

 **Grants the user DR equal to his Int plus Wis: 100.**

 **Damage total able to be received before shatter is based on level.**

 **Current: 10000.**

 **DR still applies fully** **to attacks that destroy it.**

 **Langit Sanjata (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **It is through Aura that humans attained civilization, and again through Aura that they attained what resembles peace. Once more, Aura will bring a gift: the weapons of the enlightened.**

 **Produces any physical weapon you can imagine.**

 **Price increases with size and complexity and decreases with Wis and skill level.**

 **Fantasy (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **An ability born from a deepened understanding of the truths of the world—and how they shape one's perceptions. In grasping that truth, the user of this skill has learned how to shape them in turn, twisting the perceptions of others. The user of this skill may transform thought into not only light, but real, if transient, forms.**

 **The cost and difficulty to maintain increases with the breadth of the illusion and decreases with skill level and Int.**

 **Breath of the World (Active & Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **By meditating deeply upon the nature of the world, the user has come to understand his place within it—and as a part of it. With this skill, tapping into the flowing currents of energy around the user is as simple as breathing and the process of meditation itself has simplified. With this skill, it is no longer necessary to remain passive or stationary whilst meditating, as the user can remain focused through the common distractions of the world.**

 **Regen effects boosted by 100% while meditating.**

 **HP can be improved through meditation. (0)**

 **MP can be improved through meditation. (130)**

 **The user may meditate while physically active, so long as all actions taken remain simple.**

 **This skill deactivates immediately if the user is distracted or takes complex actions.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The ability to increase the rate one moves through time through the use of great power, the degree of alteration depends upon the amount of power supplied.**

 **Extra second within a second per 500 MP.**

 **Extra seconds do not increase MP regen.**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL8 EXP: 0.00% MP:9200**

 **The ability to directly remove or weaken negative status effects. Aura will naturally try and return something to its natural state, naturally enough of it will succeed.**

 **Reduces the level of a status effect with a negative result.**

 **Current reduction: .8% status.**

 **Range: 38 meters.**

 **Double effectiveness with direct contact.**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 90.00%% MP:10000**

 **The Blind Fist (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The lost art of Blind Fist is a combat style centering around fighting within dark areas and becoming accustomed to blindness. It is through becoming attuned to a disadvantage that you gain an advantage. Through complete mastery of this, you can attain overwhelming might.**

 **Increases damage dealt with all martial arts by 50%**

 **Decreases physical damage taken by 50%.**

 **Provides full in depth knowledge of the lost art.**

 **Your eyes are no longer needed to track the world around you if other senses work.**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Stampede (Active) LVLMAX MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **By channeling Aura through specific muscle groups, users of this skill may unleash a powerful charge, breaking through defenses or tossing foes aside.**

 **Increase movement speed by 300%.**

 **Increase charging force by 300%.**

 **White Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL2 EXP: 85.15% 99, 25 per second.**

 **The foot technique developed by the Beast King Bai Hu.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 11%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 54% when active.**

 **Claws of the White Tiger (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per minute**

 **The most basic technique of Bai Hu's ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.**

 **30% increase to martial arts attack damage.**

 **White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50**

 **A technique central to Bai Hu's ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.**

 **100% increase to jumping distance.**

 **50% increase to movement speed.**

 **50% increase to physical attack damage.**

 **Lasts 1 second or 1 action.**

 **White Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:750**

 **A technique used to terrify enemies while masking who one is.**

 **Up to 1000% increase in volume and changes voice for 10 seconds.**

 **Allows usage of an animalistic roar which can fear low level opponents.**

 **Current fear level range: 1% of current level.**

 **White Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 500, 500 per second**

 **Legend tells that from five hundred years of war, a tiger rose to rule as king of all beasts. The penultimate technique of the legendary Bai Hu, Lord of the West, and the ultimate technique of his followers.**

 **500% Increase to Physical Attack Damage.**

 **500% Increase to Attack Speed.**

 **500% Increase to Movement Speed.**

 **Additional 500 HP used per second.**

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL4 EXP: 5.25%**

 **The inborn ability to perceive the world through the broad senses of the mind, rather than the limited ones of the body. Takes many forms dependent on the mentality and natural abilities of the user, but can grow with time and training.**

 **Expands Clairvoyance to encompass low levels of Clairaudience, Clairalience, Clairsentience, and Clairgustance. Improve by increasing level and INT.**

 **Clairsentience allows touch-range abilities may be used at a range of 5.15 meters.**

 **Other abilities will be unlocked with higher levels.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable**

 **Fire (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of flames and burning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for fire.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 100**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL18 EXP: 14.42% MP:91, 91 per second**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Giant's Strength (Passive) LVLMAX Stack: 1 MP:100, 100 per second**

 **Osteo (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Air (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of gases and wind.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for air.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 100**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Just as consumption is the way of fire, so too is Gluttony the way of life.**

 **100% increase to Str.**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Just as destruction is the way of lightning, so too is Wrath the way of life.**

 **100% increase to Damage.**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Just as the sky is the way of lightning, so too is Pride the way of life.**

 **100% increase to Wis.**

 **Aureola (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00% (Aura) (MAX)**

 **The manifestation of one's soul, now too large to be wholly contained by one's mortal frame. Through training and focus, the user's Aura has turned them into something much more than just a man, burning like a star to throw back the encroaching night. This skill enhances the user's Aura, giving them the power they need to truly face the darkness.**

 **The effect of the user's Aura may be enhanced by spending more MP.**

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 100000**

 **The ability to temporarily remove oneself from the normal flow of time. By warping time and space around himself to exist solely within a specific 'moment,' the user can seemingly cause time to stand still.**

 **Additional 100000 MP spent per 'moment.'**

 **Trample (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Ever since running was invented, trampling your enemies has been a dominant way of attack for many creatures. The ability to crush your foes beneath your feet can hardly be underestimated, but why have that limitation?**

 **20% increased damage while charging.**

 **20% increased damage with legs.**

 **10% increased damage with arms.**

 **Magic Coating (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Magic protects all from harm. Guess what you have a lot of.**

 **Protects you, your equipment, and anything of similar size to the user in contact with the user in Mage Armor.**

 **Effected constructs outside the user have 50.5% effectiveness of Mage Armor.**

 **Lightning Release (Active) LVL4 EXP: 96.51% MP:Variable**

 **Just as energy can be released from the soul, so too can lightning.**

 **Cost increases with range and density of charged electrons.**

 **Call of the Storm (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000 per second**

 **The user has been chosen by the storm and can hear its call.**

 **Melee attacks deal 50% electrical damage on hit passively.**

 **Actively halves costs of other electrical abilities.**

 **Melee attacks deal 50% electrical damage on hit actively.**

 **Actively prevents damage from electrical sources.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace owned by a previous man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user increased MP based on their Int (.5% per Int).**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Grimm Affliction [MAX]**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**


	27. Sanity-11 (The Christmas One)

**Merry Christmas to those that celebrate. Have a great day to everyone else.**

 **I've needed a break from the plot overload that's been the entirety of this series, so I'm dropping in a little Christmas event. Hope you all enjoy.**

 **View the start of the introduction chapter for the final piece of news.  
**

Draga wakes up with a start, pulling a complete blank on where he is. A quick glance was more than enough to confirm that he wasn't in the forest outside Vale, or even on Remnant anymore if his map was to be believed.

"Ah. Welcome to the land of the living."

Draga glances to the source of the voice, getting an eyeful of someone the game recognizes as Valkyrie.

 _Why so specific?_

Draga sits up to get a better glance at her since **Observe** was being as unhelpful as always.

She was wearing a black dress over her pale skin and had wavy black hair going halfway down her back. Even with his advanced perceptions, there was literally nothing else he could see... Somehow, she seemed to deter his ability to see through everything, making him have normal vision for her specifically. Well, her and her clothes.

It was odd, to say the least.

"I feel welcomed."

He says that, but it was in a dejected manner. He was rather annoyed that his prey had been taken from him.

Draga sighs, standing up completely.

"Where am I?"

She uses her hands to gesture all around her.

"This is Sanctum Cafe."

He nods, but is far too busy examining his surroundings to reply. The Cafe had only them within it, but the building had plenty of accommodations anyway. Tables were set up on both the current floor and the one above. There was a bar, flat screen TVs, several bathrooms lined the walls, and the many windows provided quite the panoramic view.

All in all, it was a pretty nice place.

He did note a few things, though, besides the room organization, namely the photos inside an office in the back. They showed a total of 6 people, including Draco whom he'd met before. The rest he didn't know, but Valkyrie was among them.

Fortunately, one of the pictures had a name below it and only featured one person.

 _Bolt Ikamazu? Interesting._

It was interesting. A quick pass over of the desk drawers revealed several documents that said he was the owner of the establishment, and in one that was probably meant to be private there were pictures of him with Val.

 _Then he's probably just as strong._

That was both a good and bad thing, since a quick glance above Val's head would confirm that she was more than fifty levels above him.

All that was gathered from 2 seconds of glancing around from the main room.

 _Sensory skills are awesome._

"I feel welcome. Something special going on today?"

There weren't any calendars showing holidays or anything around the building, but festive lights coated trees that were inside and even the building outside.

She nods, pointing to a nearby clock that Draga already knew showed 1:14.

"At 2:00 we are holding a Christmas party."

"Oh... Cool."

 _What's Christmas?_

"I'm just here for the gift giving, though. Only Bolt actually needs to be here."

Taking the opportunity since it was given, Draga asks about him.

"Bolt is the owner?"

"Yeah. He can also bartend, but someone else should be taking that place for him. Technically Draco's a guest, but he does it most of the time anyway."

Draga nods as if he understands, but since he just got here he knows little. Besides the pictures, not a single document in the building mentioned Draco, so he had no way to acquire real information on him besides in person.

 _I wonder what my merchant is gonna be like in person._

There was a niggling worry in the back of his mind that he would be incompetent at his job, but his literally broken nameplate last time he saw him would say he was at least strong.

Draga's interrupted by his thoughts by someone opening the door.

 _Strange that I didn't sense him before then..._

"Hey Val. A bit early, but there's more setup to do, right?"

She raises an eyebrow, but otherwise ignores his question.

"We have a guest already. This would be Draga."

Draga turns to face him, the gesture being completely unnecessary but also polite.

 **[LVL 85]**

 **Bolt Ikamazu, The 55 Tails**

Neat title, as completely meaningless as it was since Draga saw nothing to explain it.

Of course, there was plenty to see.

Bolt was a few inches taller than him and quite bulkier, but that wasn't exactly a surprise since, in person at least, he was quite obviously a half dragon. Besides that effect, Bolt's eyes were red with three tomoe spinning around his pupil and he had a blur of color in his ribs that wasn't explained otherwise.

Besides all of that, the man was covered in both quite elegant facial hair and a series of tattoos that quite clearly didn't have magic in them, as surprising as that was. So far every marking he'd ever seen one people's bodies had been magic or cursed or whatever.

 **Observe** also revealed a bit more about him.

 **Bolt Ikamazu**

 **The king of dragons and the ultimate jinchuriki, Bolt has accomplished much in his extended lifespan. Unfortunately, due to his half dragon heritage, many also want him dead.**

 _Hey, that skill was actually useful for once._

He'd never encountered a jinchuriki before, but he knew Japanese/Imanity, so a simple translation later he had...

 _Power of Human Sacrifice. What the hell is that?_

He could always jump to conclusions, but there was always an inherent flaw in doing so. After all, the man didn't seem like the kind to sacrifice others... At least if appearance actually meant anything.

"Hello, Draga. Pleasure to meet you."

He holds out a gloved hand to shake, but Draga politely declines the gesture.

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Bolt."

He looks dubious, but otherwise returns to his conversation with Val. Draga is essentially forced to listen by his sensory skills, but, with how boring it turns out to be, it basically becomes white noise.

 _Man, this party better start soon._

An idea comes to Draga, one he never thought he'd actually want.

Could he use **Acceleration** to make time go by faster?

Draga tries, and subsequently fails, a few times at trying to reverse the spell, but then an idea comes to mind.

He could use **Tachyon** to create a moment, so could he use it to delete a moment?

This brings about more success, at least if the second hand on the clock is moving accurately.

A quick check at his personal clock reveals that, indeed, the entire world just skipped a second.

And fast forward had been unleashed.

Draga takes a seat in a corner booth, sitting down to meditate. He could only use Tachyon twice in a row before he needed to regenerate MP, but, with how fast that was complete, it was significantly faster than anything else.

Besides, he was leveling the ability up pretty fast as well.

 _Hm..._

Draga does the opposite once, to test something. While his MP doesn't regen during **Tachyon** , which he expected, his HP doesn't rise either and **Acceleration** doesn't increase the duration of **Tachyon**.

That really sucked, actually, since the price of a second in **Acceleration** was far lower, but it was to be expected. The game would probably patch it anyway, should it have worked, since it would run into a similar problem it had before, albeit not into the realm of infinity... Yet.

After a while repeating this rather boring process, other people finally start filing in. Most of them have either really low levels or ones above his perceptions as well.

They all bring presents, however. As in, all of them.

These presents are placed by the largest of the trees, directly under them. While Draga can easily see the rather boring presents inside, the people are milling about with obvious curiosity about it.

 _Man. Who even wants a pink sweater with a shooting star on it anyway?_

Once 2:00 hits, the bartender finally arrives. Based on the reactions of everyone else inside, drinks were apparently in a lot higher demand than he thought they'd be. This is a cafe, and people were offering coffee and the like, but apparently whatever a mimosa was was more requested.

Curious, Draga casts an **Observe** , but instantly dismisses it by the word 'Alcohol'.

Grim had proven well enough that he couldn't get drunk... Of course, the lunatic did manage to get out of paying for the gallons of liquor he drank, so that's good enough.

It was a bit odd that people mixed champagne with orange juice, though. Who would ruin perfectly good juice like that?

Draga leaves the corner booth, bored of his activities. Messing with the fabric of space and time wasn't nearly as fun as it was portrayed, at least since he couldn't go back.

Sitting down at the bar, Draga waves down Draco. After a minute or so of him dealing with other peoples orders, he slides himself down in front of the Gamer.

"Yo."

 _Odd choice of greeting._

"Hi. I assume since you're here that you know what Christmas is?"

He nods, sliding a bottle down the counter to someone that ordered it a moment prior.

"It's about some holy person who died to save us, or whatever. Most people completely ignore the religious message and focus on the fun part: the gift giving. Just you wait. A man in red and white by the name of Santa should be delivering presents for all of us today."

Draga raises an eyebrow, obviously curious.

 _Man in red and white..._

"You wouldn't happen to mean, that man?"

Draga gestures to the door, through which Draga could see a man in a correctly colored suit. His nameplate was missing, which was something that bothered him, but if everyone else was cool with him he couldn't be that bad.

A moment passes before the door actually opens, allowing Draco to see who he was talking about, but after a cursory glance Draco nods with slight curiosity in his eyes.

 _Must have thought he'd come later._

The man shuffles in through the door, his lanky clothing dragging across the ground. The door closes behind him without being pushed, but knowing how bizarre the people in the room were was more than enough to allow him to dismiss that.

The man continues on his way to the bar, telling something only Draga was likely to hear beyond the barmaid to the young woman.

"One champagne for everyone. Hold for toast."

 _Huh._

Draga turns to face the rest of the patrons, his attention no longer required on the strange red man. He was giving everyone Champagne, not that interesting.

In fact, the patrons were quite interesting. Val was making out with some girl named Lynn in the distance, Bolt was being grinded on by some man with an unpronounceable name, and there were even a pair of people having sex in one of the bathrooms.

Oh, and ordinary fun and drinking. That was totally where Draga's attention was.

 _At least I don't get horny._

That was both a curse and a blessing, though. Can't tempt him with sex, but he also can't enjoy it. Of course, distracting him with it was apparently still possible. To be fair, it was far more interesting than some of the completely asinine games these people were playing.

A ringing of a spoon against a glass is heard as the barmaids distribute champagne glasses to everyone.

Standing up on the counter, much to the annoyance of several staff members, of the bar was Santa. He made a brief call to order before starting what was probably gonna be a boring celebratory speech.

 _Oh goodie. Definitely didn't have enough of these on Disboard._

Draga is actually taken aback for a moment at his own attitude, completely missing the first few words of the mans speech.

"... and so I'd like to make a toast for all you pe-."

He coughs, his voice becoming slightly less hoarse as he does so.

"Ek. Anyway, a toast."

He raises his glass, to which the entire room, with the exception of Draga, follow suit.

"To all of you sinners."

He drops his glass, it tilting over in what is perceived as slow motion to the chronomancer.

The moment it touches down, a change is evident. Draga, with his time dilated, is still barely able to see the mans strange outfit melt into a black ooze before becoming a new set of black and gold dark robes and guns.

 _That's not good..._

Another change was also evident, this one also only visible to Draga with his, for lack of a better term, x-ray vision: the man's chest suddenly had a big K scorched into it.

 _Definitely not good._

Since he was already looking at him, Draga gets a perfect view of his nameplate materializing above him.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Krampus, The Judicator**

And the background music completely ruins the moment.

 **Background Music enabled: I'm On Top of the World, Imagine Dragons  
**

 _Of all the times for it to make upbeat music, it chooses when a boss appears._

Draga sits back, merely observing for a moment. He was absurdly strong, but there was always information to gather and interesting fights to watch.

Turns out, he didn't even have to wait. Almost instantly Val and Bolt both rushed the thing, Val whipping a black chrome scythe out of literally nowhere and Bolt using just his empowered fists.

While everyone else stays in various levels of shock, K attacks himself. Chains sprouting from his palms, he catches Val's scythe and kicks away a pair of blows from Bolt.

"Come now. Surrendering will make this far less painful."

While Val tries to release her weapon from the coiled chains, Bolt's body comes alight in a yellow glow before he redoubles his efforts.

Apparently the shockwave quality of Bolt's fist impacting the demon's legs was enough to pull the patrons back into reality, most of them leaving the establishment in a wave. The few that remain, the four that were in the picture with Bolt and Val, join the fight.

K dances through their attacks, blocking anything he can't dodge with his chains or with a powerful kick. Fortunately, he doesn't gain any ground on his enemies either as his constant flight prevents him from getting leverage on anyone as they in turn dodge his chains and deflect his repeated strikes.

 _This is going nowhere fast._

Letting out a sigh, Draga stands up from the comfortable booth.

"You are interrupting what was at least a decent distraction of a party. Get out."

Since K neither left nor stopped fighting, Draga hangs his head for a moment out of irritation before becoming alight with flame and lightning, separately of course since destroying the entire cafe wasn't on his to do list.

"Move."

Accentuating the singular word, Draga glides forward and slams a open palm into K's chest, sending him flying backwards and through a nearby window.

Telling the group inside that he would deal with the consequences later, Draga shatters the glass slightly further by shooting himself through it.

* * *

The moment he passes through the window, a realization hits Draga.

The scenery he saw with his powers wasn't there.

Instead of the simple almost-featureless forest he saw outside the Sanctum Cafe, the space around him was filled with mountainous fields of stone and plains of snow. Paying attention to behind him, he can tell the cafe was missing as well.

Draga does a simple roll on his shoulder to enter a standing position, his focus returning to the demon before him.

"Where are we?"

It barely manages to smile through it's laughter, getting up to face him as well.

"Oh, just a little place I know."

He snaps his fingers, causing a massive number of chains to break their way out of the ground. While normal people wouldn't question that, Draga could visibly tell that they weren't there a second ago.

 _Is he trying to fake limitations on his abilities?_

It was worth note that, unlike the ones in the cafe, these chains had spikes attached to the ends and weren't in direct contact with K.

The chains shoot towards Draga, K's plan for them completely unknown. Chains were heavy and could hurt, but there were so many ways to use them besides mauling.

Taking the safest bet, Draga merely supercharges another **Lightning Release**.

It's around this time Draga notices something...

The ability didn't cost him any MP.

It takes a moment, one that he was fortunately given thanks to the attack knocking the chains away, for him to realize why.

He has 200 affinity for lightning.

He got .5% off for every point of affinity.

Draga starts laughing, genuine amusement coming from that.

Might not be an exploit, but it was broken as hell.

While the laughing gives K's attacks pause, he speaks before Draga launches his own.

"Magic users. You're all the same: dependent on your powers to accomplish anything. A true warrior would fight me like a man."

Despite the knowledge that he was being goaded into attacking normally, Draga did need to test his physical abilities and was fully confident that he could beat him anyway.

With a smirk growing in the corner of his mouth, Draga stands defiantly against him.

"I'll humor you."

Draga disables all of his skills, including **Acceleration** , in order to both prove to himself his own strength and establish how he wasn't entirely reliant on his skills.

The moment the shell of lightning that surrounded Draga faded away, K's chains launched themselves directly at Draga.

 _Childs play._

Draga flips around, easily bending around or deflecting the rather impressive number of simultaneously controlled weapons.

Ducking under a particularly sneaky spike, Draga questions K's actions until this moment.

"I'm not even struggling right now. What's your point?"

K merely smiles, a cruel smirk most would recognize as someone who thinks they've won.

Being who he was, Draga was having none of that shit.

What follows is Draga shooting off what would be an 800,000 MP worth **Lightning Release** to just end the rather boring confrontation.

Key words being 'would be'.

Because nothing happened.

 _What?_

Draga tries again, nothing happening.

And then a simple pop-up appears, and really dark realization pops into his head.

In his attempt to prove himself strong independent of his powers, he'd disabled **Aura**.

 ** _Hello, Draga._**

 _NO!  
_

Draga tries in vain to trigger his **Aura** , but nothing happens. Sure enough, a moment later Grim took actual control over his body to flip away from a spiked chain.

 **"Hello, K. I'd appreciate it if you stopped."**

Seeing as he doesn't, Grim does exactly as Draga planned to a moment prior. While the chains are merely deterred by the wave of energy, there was no way to dodge and perfectly formed expanding sphere.

The electrical energy put behind the attack was ludicrous, being more than sufficient to completely obliterate K's body.

To the annoyance of the newly awakened demon, K neither drops items nor levels Draga up.

 _ **Man. I was hoping for something good from an actual demon. Your life still sucks, huh?  
**_

Since Draga refuses to reply out of spite, Grim continues a moment later.

 _ **Tell you what, Draga. I hate your life, so I'll let you have it. In exchange, I get to do your fights for you, and you can't use Aura. Deal?**_

Draga readily accepts, something that was easy for someone to expect of him. Who wouldn't take getting at least partial control over their life back when they didn't have to be offered it?

As control over his limbs return, Draga glances down at the **Puppet Strings** status effect, finding it to be at **HI** rather than **MAX**.

 _That's an improvement at least._

Draga spins around to face a nearby footfall, his **Extrasensory Perception** being inactive preventing him from noticing Bolt earlier on.

A moment passes of silence between the two before Bolt quizzically raises an eyebrow at the Gamer.

"Why do you smell of demons?"

 _What?_

 ** _Don't ask me kid._**

"Can you elaborate on that?"

Bolt's eyes narrow, but he does as requested.

"I can smell a demon attached to you. Why is it there, and why couldn't I sense it before?"

During the moment Draga attempts to cobble a satisfying explanation together, Bolt apparently loses all patience.

 _"Rii Vaaz Zol."_

A shockwave blasts from Bolt's mouth, the force behind it pushing Draga up and away.

* * *

Draga opens his eyes, a rather unwelcome stone hallway greeting him.

Turning his head to the sounds of footsteps, Draga catches sight of Grim...

Who was currently hacking up blood onto the previously pristine floor.

Scrambling over to him, Draga attempts to figure out what's going on in the only way he can with this absurd demon.

Questions.

"What did he just do?"

In between rasped breaths and the continued ejection of important bodily fluids, Grim manages to reply.

 **"See... For yourself, kid."**

Draga pulls his attention from Grim to the... Well, everything that surrounded him. For a moment, nothing seems different, but then he notices a key difference to last time.

There was light.

It takes a moment of searching, but Draga pinpoints the source: A hole in the ceiling above.

"What's the hole mean?"

 **"What do you mean hole?"**

Draga looks around again, finding more that weren't there before. They never vanished within his sight, but the spaces previously occupied by stone bricks were going emptying at an alarming rate.

"Oh."

Grim lets out a strangled laugh in the middle of a particularly wet sounding coughing fit.

 **"Guess this is it for me..."**

Sarcasm dripping from his otherwise frantic voice, Draga rolls his eyes at him.

"Oh no. Not the demon who possessed me twice."

Grim closes his eyes, a smile coming over him as the coughing finally ceases.

 **"Fuck you too."**

Grim's body starts deteriorating in the same way normal Grimm do: becoming a black smoke and dissipating into the sky above.

Draga mirrors his smile and closes eyes, laying himself down against the fading realm he was in.

It's hard to describe what it feels like to slowly be deleted, but it was by far the strangest sensation he'd ever felt.

There was no pain in his passing, merely calm.

"Fuck you too, indeed."

 **Merry Christmas everybody.**


	28. Power-1

**Drats. Didn't make it in time for New Years countdown.**

 **So I went to the logical step of waiting until it's super late at night on New Years day.**

 **Goes to show what being lazy does to writing...**

 **Well, I guess I should let you get back to reading, huh?**

The afterlife was fairly boring, apparently. All Draga could see in the infinite expanse was white, and all other senses described nothing but him.

Well, there was one exception to all that.

 **Soul Tearing [MAX]**

 **While not completely gone, your Aura has been destroyed.**

 **99% reduced MP total.**

 **99% reduced MP regen.**

 **99% reduced DR.**

 **Aura and all modifiers of it are disabled.**

 **Further soul damage will result in deletion.**

 _And apparently obliterating my soul doesn't quite kill me. Neat. That would also mean I'm not dead..._

Despite his relief at being not dead, there was a particular part of that which did worry him, namely the deletion segment, but so far only Bolt had ever interacted with his soul out of something other than Draga's own stupidity.

Of course, that one attack he had used essentially made him useless again.

"For fucks sake!"

What was the point of grinding shit up if any time he got strong the universe would conspire to Nerf him every other minute?

After a moment to get his lack of bearings together, Draga positions himself the same way he normally does to meditate. Meditation supposedly brought you closer to the soul and had healing properties, so it would be a good place to start even if it was a failed experiment.

It was rather difficult to meditate normally, since while light plagued him even through his closed eyelids and lack of visual prowess, but eventually he managed to do it anyway.

And nothing happens.

 _Well, there goes an entire half hour of work._

He says that, but time inside his soul was a foreign concept. There had been little chance to actually experiment with it since the only time he'd entered it prior was brief and quite effectively prevented any experimentation.

Because of this, Draga didn't even know how long he'd been in here. Could have been days while he sat within the plane of white, or merely an illusion it gave him.

He's unfortunately interrupted by a very unwelcome voice.

 **"Sup, D."**

 _... No._

 **"Miss me?"**

"I missed you about as much as I miss my own feces, something I despised enough that the game helpfully made me stop creating."

Draga turns around to face the demon, but is very surprised by what is before him in Grim's place when he opens his eyes.

A much, much larger black construct in the shape of a human but lacking any real features like colored eyes or a muscle tone.

Like a 20 times grown 3D shadow, I suppose.

The oddest part about him was how everything seemed to radial blur around his chest, not very far but enough to be noticeable.

"Well... You aren't Grim."

 **"Nice of you to notice. I suppose you could call me his father, but it would get rather confusing in the long run."**

Draga raises an eyebrow and replies cynically.

"Nice of you to clear everything up so elegantly."

The being chuckles uproariously, visibly distorting the very plane they were within.

 **"Ah, but if I told you everything you'd simply forget by the time I finished. I'll give you the summary."**

While there is a pause, the supposedly male figure doesn't wait for a reply.

 **"There is a certain person I need, and you just so happen to know him. I am going to offer you a deal."**

Despite the lack of need to, Draga nods along.

 **"I will help you use the essence of Grim, that which is still in you anyway, to become more powerful, but in exchange you will make Jaune Arc go to Jericho Falls as soon as possible."**

Questions were obviously raises, such as what Jericho Falls was, but it was always something he could look up on his scroll later. Fancy that Google, or in this case Goggle, still existed on Remnant.

A much more unanswerable question through that service was what he could do with Grim's powers since, not only did nobody seem aware that beings like him existed but knowledge on his abilities would probably explain a lot of what happens with the actual Grimm.

 **"Is that a deal?"**

"On two extra conditions, both of which can be dealt with now. Specifically, I want to know what you and Grim are and why do you need Jaune at Jericho Falls."

A slightly conflicted expression appears on his face for a moment, before he lets out a sigh and concedes.

 _So much for appearing all powerful._

 **"I can hear you, you know."**

He exasperatedly sighs, but answers anyway.

 **"I am what you might describe as an Archangel, a holy being of unfathomable power. Grim is essentially a byproduct of that very same power. As for why I need Jaune at Jericho Falls, I need Keter's help with a problem of mine and he is unfortunately sleeping within a mortals body; something to do with having died thousands of years ago. Don't feel conflicted about helping me because of how Bolt described me and Grim, though. The interpretation that we are demons is predicated on our abilities, which use powers similar to that of a demon, rather than the actual creature we are."**

After the not-so-brief explanation, the giant holds out his hand for what can only be interpreted as a handshake. Obviously, Draga doesn't just reach out and grab it. There was literally no evidence that he wasn't lying his ass off, but on further thought there was also little to no evidence he was.

After coming to the conclusion that he could figure it out later using the game, Draga slaps an open palm against a massive finger, the surface of a single segment of which easily encompassed all of his hand.

 **"Alright then. I assume you want to go back to reality, right?"**

Draga nods once.

 **"Before you go, you should probably have something to call me by. Call me Mal."**

Draga retracts his hand while looking coyly up at 'Mal'.

"Bad... Nice name."

Despite Draga's annoying comment, the Archangel continues unabated.

 **"This might sound really complicated and overthought, but I know how to get out."**

Mal's hand shoots out and impacts Draga like a train, sending him careening into the distance and shattering the place around them before fading to black.

Apparently he was annoyed.

* * *

Draga wakes up with a start. He could already tell it was going to be a bad day since Bolt was standing there as if no time had passed.

Meaning he was probably still pissed off about what was interpreted as a demon inside of him.

"Hi?"

At that Bolt bursts out laughing, stopping only when continuing would result in him rolling around on the floor.

After a moment to recover his composure, Bolt delves into what he just did.

"My apologies, Draga. I was clearly wrong since you'd have died if you were a demon and/or were possessed by one."

He does a momentary head-bow before holding a hand out to help Draga stand up.

"We should probably head back inside. You have a window to pay for."

Draga cringes momentarily. He didn't have money.

There was always the dept card, though.

"I killed him for you. Isn't that payment enough."

Bolt's eyes narrow.

"Do you know why we were having problems taking him down?"

 _Guess there isn't always that card._

"No."

Bolt sighs, his expression softening back to detached frustration.

"We were trying not to damage the cafe while also keeping him from doing it. If we really wanted to-."

He doesn't finish the statement aloud.

Instead, a giant black spectral skeleton that seemed to be made of fire manifests behind him.

 _Well... Fancy that. And here I thought their levels were for show._

"I think I get your point. Unfortunately, I don't have any money on me."

Draga searches through his pockets for a moment, retrieving his scroll.

"This thing stores digital money from the realm I was before appearing in your shop. It has everything I've earned."

Bolt was about to go on a tirade about responsibility before Draco interrupted.

"You are a Gamer, yes? Just extract the money from your inventory."

Raising an eyebrow, Draga opens his **Inventory**. He knew he had a series of currency counters for each realm he'd been within, but they didn't have actual slots to pull it from.

 _I can't even pull up the energy to slap myself mentally._

Draga hangs his head as he reaches with one hand into the interface, pulling it back out with a stack of black Lien cards.

"You're gonna have to travel to Remnant to get this in a usable form."

With that said, Draco takes it instead of Bolt since he can travel dimensions as he pleases.

"We'll sort out if you owe us more than that. Bulletproof windows are pretty expensive here on account of not having been invented yet. For now, we'll take our leave."

Bolt takes a step back, vanishing from his location in a puff of mist. Similar effects occur to the remaining five when they match their stride, although Draco's is strangely purple instead of white.

 _Well... A barrier would certainly explain why this isn't what I saw._

Draga dusts himself off before striding forward...

And nothing happens.

"Oh come on! Seriously, universe? What do you I have to do for something simple? Disembowel myself? Tear out my eyes with an olive fork? What? He

Seeing as the universe doesn't answer people about it's activities, Draga sighs in defeat.

In an effort to get his thoughts together, Draga starts meditating on uncomfortable ground.

 _At least there's darkness._

Night had not quite reared its head by that point, bringing the sky above into the realm of twilight. While technically bright enough to see, it wasn't nearly to the blinding extent his soul had brought.

As such, it took mere moments before he was struck by how odd it felt to meditate. It wasn't painful or uncomfortable, only different.

A few seconds later, the game helpfully provides him an answer as to why.

 **Through expansion of [Grimm Affliction] this skill [Panen] has been unlocked!**

With that message was, of course, the skill itself.

 **Panen (Passive) LVL? EXP: ? MP:0**

 **Life exists because of the sun, and death because of life. Unknown to most is the fourth piece in the chain: Panen, or growth**

 **Increases physical stats by the combination of other physical stats (Does not stack with itself).**

 **Increases physical stats growth rate by ?%.**

 _Well that's nice, but it doesn't really solve my problem..._

Well, it helped with how he was gonna be a threat to anything with his powers so drastically mitigated, but not the overarching issue which was where he was supposed to go. With his MP reduces so drastically, he couldn't use his **Lightning Aura** combo'd with both air and fire elements even if the skill itself wasn't blocked off.

With his MP the way it was, he was sitting on 805 in the full tank.

It didn't open up much, even with **Scales** supplementing his MP regen with HP regen, since most of his useful skills cost more than that.

 _Actually wait... Could I use the same exploit as before with the massive boost to_ _ **Vit**_ _I just got?_

Unfortunately not. While it does allow him to accelerate time, the game seems annoyed with his attempt and, as such, prevents his HP regen from scaling with time either.

 _Well, there goes that._

He was classless, essentially manaless, and was trapped in an unknown location without any idea of how to get back to Remnant.

"Flawless game design guys. You really need a tutorial for this shit."

As if in answer, Draco steps back into whatever the hell place Draga was still inside.

"Are you having trouble getting out?"

Draga gestures to the world around him, easily conveying the message of 'No shit Sherlock' to Draco.

"Right... I'll help you this once. Any dimension hopping after this has a price, capiche?"

He doesn't wait for an answer, immediately going to work. Of course, when I say that I mean his magic gets to work independent of his body.

Purple arcane text embeds itself into the ground in a circle around Draga, producing an ominous glow. For a moment a smile can be seen gracing Draco's face, but it quickly fades with the rest of the world as it fades to... How about that.

It's not black this time.

It's piss yellow.

Even better.

* * *

Draga groans as he stands up, his entire body feeling like it'd been burning for several hours, which made no sense with the environment he was currently in.

It was an ordinary forest.

Okay, that's not quite true. There was evidence of a massive explosion nearby and a trio of masks lying next to a single book. **Observe** warns him off of putting the masks on, so he just places them in his inventory, but the book held actual merit.

It was his first active **Grimm** skill.

I say that literally.

 **Grimm (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Grimm are a self-sustaining species. As a Grimm, it has now become your job.**

 **Summons a Grimm of a chosen species with a level based on mana spent.**

 **HP can be spent instead of MP to summon a Grimm.**

 **Minimum levels exist for all species except Beowulf's.**

 **Currently available species: Beowulf, Nevermore, Goliath, and Geist.**

 _There is a very important piece missing from that... A control clause. What's the point of summoning a Grimm if it just attacks me? And why were only those available?_

Draga realizes that the latter three all gave him masks, and checks his inventory to find one for a Beowulf as well.

 _Well, that's that, then._

It wasn't definitive, but it was the only answer he'd be able to come across before meeting with Mal again.

Speaking of...

He had a job to do.

* * *

Getting back to Beacon was a far longer trip with only 3x travel speed compared to his normal 11-15.

After a half hour or so of sprinting, Draga stopped.

He could summon a Nevermore and just fly there far faster than this, and it would certainly buff his reputation if he could show a tamed Grimm to the humans.

And there were plenty of studies to do on Grimm.

Oh, and if it wasn't tamed he could just kill it. That was pretty important.

Starting small, Draga merely summons a level 1 Nevermore, but then nothing happens.

 _Minimum level, right._

Draga continues the same process, working up one by one. Eventually, he reaches level 10 and the ability finally drains it's 52 MP mana cost.

The price was absurdly low, at least for low level Grimm, and it took no actual effort on Draga's part, but the spectacle was fairly interesting.

The moment the ability was triggered, a small puddle of black fluid rises from the soul, coating the ground in front of Draga. The pool pulses once, a ripple spreading evenly from the center. Shortly after the effect fades, a creature that could only be comically described as a Grimm shoots up from it.

The Nevermore was the size of the average crow, so it wasn't pitiful, but any decently competent normal human could deal with a crow.

It circles around a few times before settling down on top of Draga's head. While it's talons were digging into his scalp slightly, it was clearly not trying to do it.

 _Well. That's nice._

Draga spends a moment to replace his MP with his HP.

And then it's all ready.

Draga triggers the ability, summoning a Nevermore of the same level as the one he defeated...

Actually-

 **[LVL46]**

 **Giant Nevermore, The Wings Of Captivity**

It was the same one. There was another thing important, though.

Well...

The price was apparently exponential.

His MP bar and 43082 HP later, a massive clone of the one he battled previously bursts from the surface of Remnant.

Well... He didn't have 43082 HP.

He had 16556 HP.

Tet-fucking-dammit.

* * *

"I am not gonna damn things for your own negligence."

"Yeah..."

Tet smiles faintly towards Draga, the number ticking down to two behind him.

"Beware the black."

Leaving that cryptic message, Tet vanishes in a blur of blue energy.

 _Black and white are really one and the same, Tet.  
_

* * *

Draga sighs, noting his MP and HP having replenished.

 _Well, it's nice to know that I can summon something completely ridiculous in exchange for a life._

Draga holds his hand out the the massive bird nestled in front of him. It pushes it's beak under the hand, showing its subordination.

Leaping up onto the back of the Giant Nevermore, Draga points in the direction of Vale.

 _Onwards and forwards, eh?  
_

* * *

Apparently Vale doesn't take kindly to Grimm flying straight towards it.

Who would have known?

Bullets and energy blasts passing around them, the Nevermore manages to reach the wall.

It settles down, the many attacks dealing little to the creature.

Especially when most of the attackers stopped upon seeing Draga mounting the thing.

Or rather, they see Grim on top of it.

With a small touch of **Fantasy** , Draga's right eye glow a vibrant yellow as he turns toward the commander.

"Hello, Ironwood."

Yes, it was risky to essentially challenge someone with a level he couldn't see that led an entire army, but what the hell. There was information the general'd want, which gave Draga all the power he needed over the situation.

While the rest of the hunters stand around confused, Ironwood makes the many Atlesian Knights stop their pitiful assault on the bird.

While the machines were more than capable of taking down low level Grimm and lacked emotions so they didn't summon more to their location, there was no cost effective way to replace Hunters killing the larger beasts of prey.

Like Draga's, for instance.

"Taming a Grimm. Semblance perhaps?"

It was obviously a loaded question, something Ironwood tried to distract Draga from by messing with his mechanical arm on the way over.

"I like birds."

A moment later the little one he'd summoned before lands on his shoulder, only making it harder for the general to pry without making it obvious.

So he makes it obvious.

Temperamental hunter that he is, Ironwood kicks off of his location and speeds towards Draga, stopping with his face inches away from the Gamer's own.

"Tell me how and why you have a Grimm or by the gods I will kill you where you stand."

Draga takes a moment prior to responding, several thoughts needing to be sorted out in that time.

Most important of which being what his fake semblance should be.

And then a brilliant idea pops into his head.

And by brilliant I of course I mean something Wheatley wouldn't consider a good idea, but it was gonna be a lot more fun than the alternatives.

"Please, general. Why would my siblings pass off on my death?"

Whether it was a good or bad thing at the time, the general gets brash at the statement and lunges a hand toward Draga's chest.

Mana limited as it is, Draga couldn't do his first idea, which was to blast him away with lightning or fire and establish himself as a god that way.

So Plan B was in charge.

The hand passes through Draga's body easily, almost as if it wasn't there. Having experienced far worse before, Draga manages to not visibly react to the pain of the attack.

"Come now."

To finalize the effect of completely ignoring anything Ironwood can do, Draga takes a single step backwards to display a fully in tact cassock and no signs of blood.

Everyone reacts as you'd expect.

The Atlesian Knights open fire uselessly again, the excess hunters enter a state between surprise and shock, and Ironwood attacks again.

Instead of just tanking the attacks, since it was clear by the missing 1000 or so HP from the simple strike that James was quite strong, Draga ducks away from a more powerful punch.

The attack wasn't that simple, though, as Draga finds out a moment later when a bullet comes flying from a hitherto unnoticed revolver and cuts straight through his shins.

As Draga falls back from the sudden loss of balance, he does a 180, lands on his hands, and kicks his available leg into the outstretched gun which is sent flying upwards.

Despite the acrobatic turn around, Ironwood saw him get injured, even if the wound faded instantly.

 _He's no human. Aura would have stopped that bullet easily, but it didn't. Instead, he just healed from the attack._

His thoughts are interrupted when Draga shoves off the ground in his direction, sending his extended leg through the space James's head occupied a moment earlier.

Acting quickly, Ironwood slams the palm of his mechanical arm into the protruding limb, sending Draga spinning in that direction.

Using the free momentum, Draga is able to slide up to his feet on the ground beneath the Nevermore.

"Come now, general. I don't believe I have done anything wrong by your mortal laws."

While he pauses momentarily at that, the aggressive spark in his eye never falters.

"The law can never keep up with the times."

"I suppose you're right."

Ironwood dashes forward once again, but when Draga ducks back a massive flock of level 10 Nevermore grow out of the ground and form a fluid wall to block his line of sight.

While Ironwood and the Atlesian knights pour bullets and blades into the horde, Draga's HP regen is enough to keep them coming long enough for the Nevermore to take flight and Draga to leap off the wall towards Vale.

"Goodbye, general."

Did I mention that **Fantasy** can create sound?

That could be used plenty of ways.

The remaining mini-Nevermore flow as a mass of black after the larger of their brethren, leaving line of sight rather quickly.

* * *

 _Well that was nice. I thought I'd need to direct them openly, but they knew the right moment to run away the same time I thought it._

A psychic link to the Grimm was something to worry about on it's own, since it meant if he ever thought of betraying Mal seriously he'd have to do so by instinct or unstoppable might rather than planning.

There was also the chance the Grimm were just smart. They saw him run, so they ran.

If that was true, however, their coordination must be exemplary.

I mean, instantaneous levels of communication among the birds.

Of course, since Mal existed at all, that wasn't impossible.

 _More headaches... God dammit._

That was the other thing. His **Gamer's Mind** wasn't working anymore...

Now, that probably was his own god damn fault. **Soul Shatter** on top of everything else he's had done to him was likely more than sufficient.

Speaking of headaches, where did the bird that killed him go?

As if in answer, the same beast rises from the dirt next to him. A quick glance at his status menu reveals no cost associated with it.

 _Oh ho ho. They have no idea what I'm gonna become._

* * *

 **Happy New Years, everybody. If you celebrate it at a different day, I'm sorry, but I am a dinosaur so I don't care about your problems.**

 **Ciao.**

 **Wait. You wanted a profile?**

 **NEIN!**

 **For very specific reasons, Draga won't be viewing all of his status page and neither will you.**


	29. Power-2

**I just realized I completely forgot to tell you guys this earlier. Draga's appearance system requires a reflective surface within vision, something he proved in Vale before the quest Candlelight. I've been having him use it willy nilly recently, but there's an explanation for that I forgot to post up. Essentially, Clairvoyance or Extrasensory Perception are allowing him to see inside his pocket where he has his scroll. The scroll happens to be a reflective surface.**

 **Hope that clears it up for anyone that actually noticed my little plot hole.**

 **Also, my beta's are apparently not active, as I have yet to get anything from them. If any of you would be cool taking that position and are on enough to beta read a chapter at least once a week, send me a message or review.**

 **This chapter was done two days after the previous, but I was waiting on my beta's...**

 **Obviously, nothing happened.**

 **Next chapter will be released shortly, and thanks to someone who messaged me directly, I will be making Infinity Paradox chapters again.**

 **YAY! More writing to do.**

 **Fantastic.**

 **Without further ado: The Adventures of an Oblivious Genius With Superpowers!**

* * *

Grimm were a lot more broken then Draga gave them credit for.

Normally, in video games, when you summon a monster their stats either grow in a similar way to yours or they remain static, primarily the second option. This is mostly for balancing purposes since having a creature that fights as well as you means you are essentially two players.

The Grimm were obviously not on his level, but they had a completely bogus stat gain system.

Just don't let them die, and they'll level up naturally.

 **[LVL48]**

 **Giant Nevermore, The Wings Of Captivity**

Okay, two levels doesn't sound like much, but Draga had only been in the woods for an hour at most.

The other Nevermore, the ones the size of the average crow, had already gained five levels. While this increased their size, it wasn't anywhere near the explosive growth needed for the little beasts in the making to reach the size of it's giant brethren.

 _Best guess is that Giant Nevermore count as a different creature._

It was certainly likely, but rather obnoxious should it be true.

Then again, whoever was in charge of balancing his kit was clearly taking a few too many vacation days, especially back in the Enchanted Cave. Him coming back to the office in a bad mood would also explain his frequent and spontaneous Nerfs.

Draga pets the beak of the Giant Nevermore, having to stretch his arm just to do it from the ground.

It was actually quite the majestic beast, having a body of over 30 feet in length yet somehow having flawless and smooth feathers.

Of course, that impression is rather lost when it impales you with them, but it seemed he wasn't going to.

He? She? Do Grimm even have gender? They clearly don't mate, so it was fairly likely they were genderless.

Speaking of personifying the massive bird monster, Draga should probably give it a name. It would make thinking about it so frequently a lot easier since Giant Nevermore had around four syllables to many.

 _Wings of Captivity... Woc? Nah._

While brief, a moment of levity does come when he thinks of naming it Cow, but he already knew it would turn the serious threat into a joke.

 _Got it; Nevva. Still two syllables, but it makes up for it by being awesome._

Ah, Pendragon. It was a good book series, and one Earth and his home back on Disboard shared. Unfortunately, the person who wrote them on Disboard died before he could release the 9th and 10th books.

 _Actually, I wonder if Remnant has the remaining two. I need something to kill time doing, and I am sure as hell not reading Charlotte's Web again._

Okay, that was probably a little harsh, but, as a child, Draga had minimal access to the library. Turns out that the King didn't really trust people below 8 to take care of books.

Now, that didn't stop Draga by any means, but it did prevent him from reading new ones all the time.

So he read every book repeatedly instead. As one of the first books he ever got his hands on, Draga read Charlotte's Web enough times to recite it from memory, and I don't mean the plot. I mean the entire book.

Tet knows that there's nothing he missed.

Finishing a beloved series, however, did carry a lot of interest.

 _But what to do with the Grimm... I obviously can't just walk around town with them, and they'd be slaughtered by any competent hunter that comes near._

As if reading his thoughts, the flock of Nevermore mold back into whatever the black tar-like substance they are composed of and seep into the ground. Nevva does this as well, but it takes substancially longer due to the size difference.

 _Definitely a mental connection._

As a final test to confirm that, Draga 'tells' the smaller birds to come back.

And they do.

 _Well, that's awesome._

Idly telling them to return to their hiding, Draga starts his trek to Vale.

Of course, as he walks more level 10 Nevermore grow from the ground and join their comrades below.

They might be weak, but never underestimate the power of a first impression.

* * *

When Draga, in his own form of course, gets to Vale, stories were already going around about a new Hunter who had the Semblance to control the Grimm. The stories got more and more preposterous, and it was the same damn day.

 _People really like to gossip, don't they?_

I mean, it got stupid.

Like, what the hell was Ziz and why was he part of Draga's story? None of the people were named Ziz and none of his Grimm should have had titles among normal people.

And then there were the parts about Goliaths, Ursas, Gheists, and even one about Leviathans, only two of which were possible and none of which actually happened. Hell, he didn't even know what a Leviathan was.

So not only did people like to gossip, but people liked to lie in a vain effort to impress others.

Well I never said Draga wasn't a hypocrite, although his method of lying is a bit different than these peoples and he has better reasons to do it than vanity.

Such as not dying.

Draga sighs, but continues on his way. The library was pretty far in town, so he had plenty of time to soak up all the works of fiction and try out the mobile meditation that **Breath Of The World** offered.

To his surprise, it was really easy to meditate like that. While he was occasionally interrupted by people walking into him, Draga was able to get through the various districts without worry.

Finally arriving at the library, Draga steps inside the massive marble building.

A single glance around proves that the gods weren't gonna pull him towards the books he wants, so he had to do it the hard way.

I say hard, but using a few hundred mana and a couple seconds to sort through literally every book in the building was a pitiful sacrifice.

And he finds them, or rather he finds the ninth installment and an old newspaper saying the creator died before finishing his last book.

 _GAH!_

There was a ninth book, which was great, but Tet damn man. What universe is it gonna take for him to actually get his hands on the last one?

 _I can always call Draco, I guess._

While Draga makes his way over to Raven Rise, he idly flips out his scroll. As tempting as it was to ask him for the last book, he didn't really have anything to pay him with.

Actually, that brought something to mind: how were hunters payed?

So far, monsters hadn't dropped anything, which would be the standard way video game characters got rewarded, quests had yet to offer him money, and no explanation had been provided for how everyone payed for their obviously expensive and complex gear.

Sniper Rifle Scythe that can compact itself into something the size of a purse and is able to propel you through the air?

Giant grenade launcher built into a hammer that somehow functions with a revolver cartridge system?

And don't even get me started on... Th-no. Huh...

That was it, actually. The rest of the weapons he'd seen were probably fairly easy to create, but they still had to be payed for.

Leaving the library with the book already placed directly into his **Inventory** , Draga makes his way to Beacon.

Even if he didn't need someones help scavenging loot to prevent career thieving from becoming the norm, classes would be starting in a few hours. Yep, the sun had officially risen.

* * *

Grimm don't level up while hiding away, something Draga found out when he summoned a few of the smaller birds to check on their progress. Based on their growth rate, they should have gone up a level or two during his marathon worthy walk, but no.

This posed a problem since he obviously can't have Grimm flying about the school and he didn't trust the hunters outside the city to leave them well alone.

He could probably still have a few of the smaller ones flying around above Beacon itself, well out of anyone's worries, but Nevva was completely stuck beneath the surface.

Dismissing them, Draga steps out of his dorm-rooms bathroom. The room was fortunately vacant, but he needed the extra layer of wall between him and anyone wanting to look.

Now, I'm not saying being a paranoid nutter is a good idea, but a little caution never hurt anyone.

Of course, what wasn't just a little caution was his **Extrasensory Perception** being both active and scanning the entire halls for any sign of anyone. Nora had inhuman strength, Ozpin could teleport, and Ruby had superspeed. It's impossible to know what people are gonna do.

While it was active, Draga realizes that something was missing, and had been for some time.

Didn't he get a Chi bar after the quest with Ken?

Where did that go?

His GUI had nothing for it, none of his open windows said anything about it, and there wasn't even the old quest box.

 _Could I have lost it on one of my deaths?_

The power didn't mean anything, at least at the time, but Ken was obviously powerful with it.

 _How would I get it back?_

Chi was supposedly something all living beings naturally had, so it would make sense that he could get it back, but how?

He'd never used it, so he couldn't just try and replicate the abilities.

 _Perhaps I can find somebody else that uses it and have them do to me what I did to Thrak, but with Chi?_

That had its own niggles. Draga had already read the **Observe** on every student that was in his classes, and none of them had anything relating to Chi in them. There was one that mentioned Chakra, which would be cool, but Tet knows he didn't need even more shit to worry about.

 _Let's keep it simple. Grind my Grimm powers, gain more MP and HP through meditation, and try and create some powers to make me able to fight still._

He wasn't lacking in raw speed or power, but his competitive edge was completely lost in the weaponry department. Bullets would always be bullets, so their power was limited, but a powerful melee weapon used by someone on par with him would be more than enough to take him down.

He couldn't even do the time manipulation speed escape anymore since he had to use his HP to do it and the only need to would be while he's in danger of death.

Losing HP wouldn't really help.

The biggest goal of combat was to hurt your enemy while stopping them from hurting you. There were exactly three ways to do that.

You could become invulnerable, something that wasn't available at the moment.

You could become long range and defeat your enemy before they get close, but Draga's only offensive abilities were in fist fights or using **Langit Sanjata** to create a melee weapon.

And lastly, you could become so fast or agile that nobody could hit you in the first place.

Obviously, Draga want to work on the only one he could see himself doing. Not only did he already have a lot of the work into getting it done, but there was a strange appeal to being a glass cannon that moved at the speed of light.

Dex builds will almost always beat Str or Vit builds.

Now, it really depended on the skills and game system, but in this game system was horribly tipped in Dex's favor out of the physical stats.

 _I have a half hour before classes. Might as well experiment._

Once out on the training field, Draga starts off with a simple adaptation of things he'd already done: sending Aura to his feet.

While his Aura obviously doesn't activate, it seems that the game can let him use the energy that makes it up anyway, so a bluish white glow surrounds his boots.

It doesn't make a skill, though, implying that it wasn't as useful as he wanted.

 _Hm..._

Draga doesn't give up that easily, sending his Aura directly to the bottom of his foot, picturing a kind of pad for him to stand on.

While it still doesn't give him a skill, it definitely does something.

It's fairly easy to tell that things are happening when the ground seems to betray you and slip directly beneath your feet.

A quick recovery from a head injury, Draga stopped with the attempt.

But that doesn't mean he was done.

Rather than continue in the middle of a flat plain, Draga heads to the actual training halls (Shocker) so he can have a wall to prop himself up while he figures out exactly what the thing did.

* * *

Have you ever learned to ice skate?

It's pretty fun, I agree.

But you know the most important part of ice skating?

You can actually balance.

Those little blades beneath your feet provide a contact edge, allowing you to balance one two while still and one while moving.

Now, take the friction reduction of ice, and crank it up to eleven.

He'd basically invented a guys semblance by complete accident, but it was far less useful for him.

How are you supposed to slide around at high speeds if you're constantly crashing into things and falling over?

Well, the game tried to make a solution.

 **Sliding Mastery (Passive) LVL3 EXP: 10.51% MP:0**

 **Whether on wheels, blades, or otherwise, mastery of sliding along surfaces can be invaluable.**

 **Increases speed by 3% while sliding.**

 **Decreases turn width by 2% while sliding.**

Unfortunately, this meant little. The skill required you to at least be able to move.

And let me tell you, it would have been horribly embarrassing to land on your ass fifty times in a row on an ordinary floor if it weren't for a severe case of 'no shits to give' that pervaded Draga's current mental state.

He wasn't able to get it down before an alarm he set went off to remind him to get to class.

 _Tet damn it..._

Well, Tet didn't damn it.

Shame.

 _Off to another boring history class..._

* * *

 _I stand corrected._

That's not strictly true as the class was still going to be boring, but for a different reason.

Apparently it was considered valuable to learn about Risk.

I mean, the game.

Yeah...

On other news, you remember how Draga had both **Card Game Mastery** and **Board Game Mastery**?

Risk counts as both.

After a speech about the value of "War strategy" and "Predicting your opponents", he sets us up in a sort of tournament, although there is a losing bracket so you aren't forced to stop after a single loss.

There were 3 games per person and 6 players per game, which mean a lot of people were gonna win with the class sizes they had here.

Draga planned to be among the winners, obviously.

The first game went absurdly well. He conquered a large continent in the middle, largely criticized as the most dangerous, and spread towards the 'safe' places. The largest area was east of him, but there were so many people contesting it that the battle was simple.

He won through taking the scraps, mostly.

Second game went much the same, although he started in one of the safe continents.

The third game, however, had Jaune.

Okay, credit where credit was due; Weiss was the only reason he won. Jaune had apparently seen Draga's previous games, and so he matched his strategy perfectly.

Unfortunately for him, Weiss conquered the lands on the other side of him, so he was surrounded.

In an attempt to defend himself, Jaune made a path to Draga, but Weiss cared more for the lands themselves...

After an extended period of RNG screwing over Draga horribly, he pulled a comeback out of his ass by taking 1 piece of land in all of her continents except that Tet damn one in the corner with only 4 countries, reducing her production by over 50%.

Game, set, match.

Draga lets out a sigh of relief, Weiss making a similar sigh of exasperation.

"Close, but it won't happen again."

Despite the conviction in her voice, Draga doesn't reply in his normal snarky manner. In all likelihood, she deserved the win more than he did. Both he and Jaune were Gamers, so it was essentially cheating.

Speaking of Gamers.

 **[LVL 85]**

 **Jaune Arc, The Elementalist**

 **BTW, I hadn't posted his level before (I don't think). He was supposed to be 68 when he was introduced, but I did an Observe tab... Observe doesn't display his level.**

That was quite the change.

Now, 17 levels was certainly possible to get that quickly, but damn.

 _Actually, does he know I'm a gamer? My title has never been anything relating to being a Gamer, and I haven't told anyone about it either..._

Draga found out because of **Observe** , but there was no way to use it on himself, and even then Jaune's might be different or non-existent.

Questions to be asked; answers to be solemnly left in the dark about.

Draga walks away without comment, idly noting that Adam had leveled up quite a few times as well, albeit less than Jaune had..

 _Those guys are gonna be strong..._

Not to say they weren't strong already, but just by looking at Jaune's absurd growth while already overleveled was enough to convince him that he was gonna break his own game soon.

Draga sighs, scratching his head fervently in an attempt to rid himself of any inferiority he was feeling. Jaune was strong, that much was certain. That just made his goal even more clear.

 _I will become The Best._

...

 _Right after a few more classes._

* * *

"YES!"

While a bit unstable, Draga was now balancing on the Aura Skates, as he will call them since the game didn't create a skill even now, while moving at walking pace.

That doesn't sound impressive, but it was incredibly satisfying. The ability to completely ignore friction, even exclusively on your feet, at will was invaluable at high speed combat.

Especially with that damn exhaustion mechanic rearing it's head. If he spent all his energy running and got hit with that in the middle of combat, he'd lose in an instant.

It would take a while, but once this skill was actually mastered Draga could grind **Dex** in now time. He'd already confirmed a long time ago that the faster you move the faster **Dex** levels up.

Well, what if you were traveling at a ridiculous pace for hours?

Hell. If he wanted to he could find something to weigh him down, maybe see if he can trick the game into giving him free **Str** too.

 _Not baby steps, but not gigantic leaps, I suppose._

It was certainly possible, but there were things he needed to sort out first.

Specifically, balancing with this thing at high speeds.

 _Oh joy._

* * *

Ah man.

Have you ever gone really fast while your head is in open air and it just bombards you with air resistance?

It was strangely satisfying.

Even more so when you're traveling fast enough to turn the air red.

Unfortunately, Draga found out that **Lightning Shell** prevents the feeling by diverting the air around him, and it was just too powerful to leave out of his training.

 _Damn._

As it stands, Draga wasn't quite going around on both legs. One of them was normal, which he'd use to regulate his balance, and the other was an Aura Skate, which he'd use similar to how one would use a scooter or roller skate.

On slightly related news, **Streamlined** was back.

Yay! 6% less than 0% friction.

Unfortunately, it didn't speed him up by 6% of what his normal friction would be, but it slightly diminish the gradual loss of speed he'd be getting while not using **Lightning Shell**.

 _Man... If I get this maxed, I'll never truly enjoy moving really fast again._

No judging. A lot of entertainment was taken from him, so let him have his fun.

Even though classes were out, you weren't allowed to leave campus for a period of time unless you had a mission of some kind.

Well, that times was up.

"WHOOO!"

Draga triggers everything he can with his limited mana- even burning several thousand HP to use a higher tier of **Accelerate** \- to buff his speed immensely, sending himself careening off the edge of the mountains Beacon was built atop.

He inhales once, just to feel the sharp icy air in his lungs while he soars across the skies of Vale.

Yes, he had no upward momentum.

Did that matter?

Nope.

Nothing could ruin that moment.

Draga closes his eyes, anticipating something horrifying or monstrously powerful ruining the moment, but, to his surprise, nothing does.

 _Fuck yeah!_

After crossing more than half of Vale through the air, Draga slides along the slanted surface of someone's roof and leaps to convert all his downward momentum into even more speed, repeating the maneuver to head skyward one street over.

When he finally hits the ground again, he traveled far enough through Vale to enter the less dense areas, allowing him to skate his way along the streets at his ridiculous pace while only occasionally making him dodge a pedestrian or person by pivoting or leaping over them.

When he hits a long, straight, and empty road, he tentatively sets his other foot down with the Aura Skate on it...

And doesn't get sent flying by falling over.

 _YES!_

His day gets slightly worse when, in his celebration, he doesn't realize just how quickly the wall of a building caught up with him.

A de-powderized skull and a repaired spine later, Draga pulls himself out of the pile of decimated concrete he just created.

"Ugh... Did someone say 'Oh yeah!' three times?"

Smirking at his own reference, Draga glances around what appears to be a warehouse. Unfortunately, nobody is within sight, though they may be blocked by massive stacked boxes that make up much of the area, so they didn't hear his comment.

That doesn't mean nobody heard a concrete wall caving in.

To be safe, Draga turns on **Extrasensory Perception**.

...

...

...

Every single crate is full of weapons or dust, primarily red but that's besides the point.

He was in a weapons hold for someone.

A single twitch of his attention reveals who.

 _Hey Torchwick, I think you owe me something._

* * *

 **Whoever invented USA's current schooling system should be fired. I have so much free time that, a chapter which takes 4000 words and around 12 hours of writing, can be done in the time I spend not learning useless information during school in 2 days.**

 **Perfection.**

 **All not-joking aside, it was fun. If it wasn't for Fickle Things, or my other stories, I'd probably spend around 6 hours a school day taking 40-50 minute naps.**

 **Seriously.**

 **You guys are digging into my sleep time. Be happy.**

 **This is chapter will not have a profile again. Why this is will be covered next time, so I hope you guys are patient enough for that.**

 **Thank you for reading my story, and reviewing if that's what you're doing, and have a good day.**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **What? You're still here?**

 **Great.**

 **That means I can advertise to you.**

 **WAIT!**

 **This isn't a sponsorship or an ad I'm being requested to do.**

 **I have been RPing online for quite a while and it's something I see a lot of people have fun doing. Unfortunately, finding a community to RP with is quite the hassle since a lot of sites are not nooby-friendly. I, myself, have had an experience like that while trying to join a few years old Naruto RP site.**

 **Luckily, that can all be bypassed with a relatively new site called Writing Realms, aka WRealms. If you're interested, you can google the site or just put in www wrealms com.**

 **Brilliant.**

 **You can find me as Draga Konungur or Draco Murdock. I am willing to RP as a ton of characters, but exclusively ones that are my own.**

 **I believe I have said it before, but I might not have. I do not own every character that shows up here, but I do have permission to use them.**

 **If you have any particular questions, message or review with them.**

 **Note: still looking for reviews. Yes, one guy did just double the number of reviews by himself, but that's besides the point.**

 **Alright, alright. You can go now.**

 **Ciao.**


	30. Power-3

Every single crate is full of weapons or dust, primarily red but that's besides the point.

He was in a weapons hold for someone.

A single spec of his attention reveals who.

 _Hey Torchwick, I think you owe me something._

Draga takes the taller form he had originally taken to meet Torchwick, a the Hokori mask materializing over his face with a press of a button.

Just in time, too, as a moment later, several masked soldiers in identical uniforms arrive to investigate.

Their guns raised towards Draga, they ask the two obvious questions the goons always ask in movies, though they fortunately say it at once to save a moment of Draga's time.

"Who are you and what are you doing here."

Completely undeterred, Draga calmly walks into the fray and past them.

After a moment of stunned confusion, they open fire useless on the interpretted threat.

A second later, Draga pauses his motion and raises a hand to signal them to stop, something they do but more because they ran out of ammo than they were listening to him.

"Now, now. Roman and I have business."

They lower their guns slightly, but they were quite clearly still on alert. Whether they were supposed to be on alert or Draga's presence was the cause was still up for debate.

This message is forwarded to Roman through one of their scrolls of the nearby henchmen, something Draga can easily see as it happens.

It takes almost a minute of waiting, mostly since Roman was intentionally going slow and silently for his 'reveal'.

 _Man, if only he knew I saw him before the message was even sent._

Finally the time arrived, and, with the tapping of his cane against the stone floor, Roman turns the corner with a charismatic smile on his face.

It would be hard to notice with how well covered and groomed he was, but Roman was obviously stressed. Yes, Draga had an unfair advantage to figure that out, but even without it Draga would probably notice it from the paleness of his face which wasn't properly hidden.

With his unfair advantage, though, a lot of other things became clear.

First off, Romans hair was dyed. This meant little, except he could tell it was naturally that shade anyway. Further analysis revealed that the roots of his hair was turning gray, only being masked by whatever was coloring it. Secondly, the man was tired. Despite his relaxed composure as he steps closer to Draga, his muscles had obvious signs of fatigue and strain.

 _Heh. If I didn't have a bastardized exhaustion mechanic, I'd be gloating right now._

Lastly, the man was tense. Not in the normal way, of acting like you're in constant danger, but rather the one you get from continuous fear.

Something was scaring him, but in a way he wasn't able to deal with, at least with his normal means.

All that, and he'd spent maybe 3 seconds examining him.

 _Why do I ever turn this ability off?_

He gets a subtle reminder when a headache starts developing.

 _Ah... I need to find a solution to that._

While the drawback wasn't really that horrible, any impairment can screw with you at the wrong time. Having a crippling migraine all the time was certainly not on his to do list, especially when he couldn't even afford to use **Cleanse**.

"Hello, Roman. I believe you have something for me?"

He spins his cane in his hand for a moment before sticking into the ground while he stops walking forward.

"Ah, yes. The dust heist. My apologies, it was so long ago and of little consequence."

Draga narrows his eyes slightly, something Roman clearly notices.

"Please, do tell. I'd love to hear about how much I need to prove myself for payment."

Yes, it was manipulation, but he tried it first.

"We got just over 1500 lb of dust in that run. Around 80% of it was guaranteed before you got there. I don't know what to tell you."

 _Hm..._

"I'm gonna offer you a deal, and I want you to hear me out."

Since Draga doesn't continue, Roman nods slowly.

"I don't kill you, and you get me an actual paying job."

Roman smirks, flicking the end of his gun-cane towards Draga.

"And what makes you think I care?"

Draga snaps his fingers, mentally signalling the Nevermore to appear at the same time. They burst from the ground and form a domed wall of black feathers around the group.

"I have a niggling feeling-."

Draga triggers **Extrasensory Perceptions** just long enough to enter his appearance editor.

 _Hm... Who to be?_

After a moment, Draga decides on his chosen form: Roman Torchwick. It takes a while to edit out the kinks and make it the same size, height, and Tet damn his hair, but eventually it stands before him as a statue of wasted time.

 _I suppose he would call this perfection._

"-that you're gonna like me."

The statement was finished with the new look, adding to the display of power. It's only a moment later that Draga realizes how horribly outclassed he was in this regard.

The various henchmen vanish entirely, turning to dust, and Roman is no longer Roman...

Weirdest of all was the nameplates.

They all had nameplates, and Roman's was correct.

But now...

 **[LVL64]**

 **Neopolitan, The Grand Illusionist**

There was a multi-colored hair little girl with a parasol and a level nearly double his own.

Her illusions not only fooled Draga's perceptions, they fooled the game.

 _Grand Illusionist indeed..._

That kind of power was terrifying.

She takes a single step forward, holding an arm out to shake. Draga takes it, but is rather confused at this point. Not the kind of confusion that muddles your thoughts, just general lack of understanding.

Fortunately, she clears at least part of it up.

 **I figured I should mention that, though she doesn't speak in the anime, she does have a voice actor, implying that she is able to and just doesn't. I will not have her speak, but I need some dialogue, so...**

A sign appears in front of Draga with text written on it, including every inflection or emotion she would emit if she were speaking communicated through colors, spacing, and apostrophes that wouldn't naturally go where they do.

"I could always use another illusionist to take over when I have other things to do."

She shakes her head and lets out a sigh while her hand returns to her side.

"Roman... He just left. There was no warning, and he took a large amount of our money with him. Supposedly he went to Vacuo, but we've heard nothing concrete."

 _Hey, look. Another place I only know about in concept._

She continues after the brief pause.

"It's been hard- running the gang, I mean. If everyone wasn't complaining all the time, it'd be far easier, but I can't just solve their problems since that would be out of character. I'm sure you understand. Who are you, by the way?"

"Neo, please. Call me Grim."

She raises an eyebrow but doesn't comment.

"Can you dispel your illusions now? The birds are kinda freaking me out."

Draga looks dubious for a moment. After all, how could someone like her become this powerful while being scared of the smallest Nevermore he'd encountered?

It's only at this moment that he realizes they were all staring at her the entire time, eyes unwavering and unblinking.

 _Okay, I can see how that would creep someone out._

The birds pool back into the ground, an effect that's fast enough to not draw Neo's questioning gaze at why his illusion would need an actual exit.

"So, I showed you my form. Can I see yours?"

Draga raises an eyebrow, examining the person before him.

It was pretty hard to believe someone would naturally have multi-colored hair, two different eye colors, and be that short all at once...

That takes some real bad luck.

Then again, Draga was a master of bad luck...

 _Alright._

A transformation later, Grim was standing in front of the icecream themed loli.

He does a little jig with his feet in an attempt to comically present himself, but she doesn't react with any levity.

"Alright. You wanted payment, yes? As a co-owner of Roman's job, you're gonna have access to his resources. That's gotta be enough."

Draga raises an eyebrow quizzically at her.

"Didn't you say he took most of his money with him?"

She rolls her eyes at him.

"Yes, he took his money. I said you'd get his resources. Can't exactly take 20 tons of dust with you in a personal plane."

 _I should have known that..._

"Alright. What should I do for now?"

She projects a to do list before walking back into the warehouse.

 **To Do:**

 **|_| Re-acquire actual workers.**

 **|_| Acquire more dust.**

 **|_| Transport dust to Mountain Glenn.**

 _Well I know how to do exactly none of that._

No paycheck yet, it seems.

Once he'd memorized the short list, Draga experiments by attacking the illusion. It was a simple punch, but the force causes the signboard to explode into shards which, in turn, dissolve into nothing.

 _Actual physicality. Impressive._

While that was impressive, something that was slightly more so dawns on him.

 _She was controlled all those people and replicating all of their emotions, personalities, and even internal body functions... with her mind. Just how powerful is she?_

I mean, Draga had impressive concentration and what normal people would call multi-tasking but was actually complex task comprehension, but he couldn't come close to replicating the individual veins of a persons circulatory system. While he couldn't see the cells themselves, they were probably individually perfect too.

It was slightly... Strike that- it was incredibly terrifying to consider that anyone you meet could be a perfect replication of them.

One so perfect that not even the game can tell the difference.

And the only way to determine whether it was real was to hurt them.

Hell, that was just a sign. She might be able to create ones capable of taking far more punishment before breaking, and, as the guards and the clone of Roman showed, either the illusions could talk or she could replicate their voices.

All that and yet she was only level 64.

 _What the hell is Ozpin then? Is he supposed to be a god or something?_

Cinder, or Famine if you prefer, was already proven to be far more powerful than Draga could even hope to match. She was able to control time however she pleased.

That was surely god level power.

And based on her brief comment about Ozpin while talking to Grim, he was at least on her level.

 _What the hell have I gotten myself into?_

Something not fun. That was all he could really answer.

 _Back to the grind, I guess._

'Grim' lets out a sigh before making his way back outside, noting when yet another illusion appears in front of him with text.

 **Come back anytime.**

* * *

Without mass **Acceleration** and with the limited time his classes forced him into, sleeping was no longer worthwhile. While night blessed the sky and the normal people (normal for this world away) were asleep, Draga had all the time he could want to grind whatever skills he pleased.

The swarm of birds grows stronger.

While meditating from a still position, which makes maintaining his concentration far easier, Draga grinds his various duration actives and spends the spare mana on a mix of **Acceleration** and making more LVL10 birds.

Yes, he didn't have enough MP to do this normally, but **Scales** mixed with precise timing on ability expenditure enabled him to do his work despite that.

The meditation was also granting him more mana, and it's here that Draga figured out where the inconsistency in his MP pool came from: the MP gained from meditation wasn't affected by **Soul Shatter**.

This was important because it proved something: the game functioned off of a logical system with minor flaws in it. If he could locate enough of these flaws, he might be able to break the game without doing anything it labeled as an exploit.

Not doing anything the game labeled as an exploit was also fairly important in it's own right. With his Gamer class and the Berzerker class both unavailable, he was seriously handicapped. It helped, at least, that the Gamer class wasn't the only thing making the game work.

There was a lingering question, though. With all his calculations, it made no sense where his MP was at. He had a 200% boost from the **Mana Affinity** stacks, and that was in there, but Babel wasn't granting him anything.

A moment passed, and he confirmed Babel was around his neck and properly equipped.

 _Huh..._

Draga moves his status page over, scrolling down to the section with his equipment.

And there it was.

 **Necklace: Tower Of Babel - A necklace, previously owned and empowered by a man named Babel, that has been infused with the soul of its wearer and became an alternative to their spirit rather than a supplement. Acts as an independent MP tank for the one who's soul it is bounded to. Current binding: Draga Konungur. Current MP total: 59105. Certain effects have not been discovered.**

Wow...

That was a lot of mana.

It was a shame it wasn't increasing his own by that much.

Best part about the way it was phrased is that no maximum was implied.

 _I guess I should start getting my soul back._

Draga uses his own max MP and the rest from Babel to cast **Cleanse** on himself, his ability leveling up three times but no progress being made in purging the status effect.

 _Stubborn bastard._

Draga would repeat this a total of 5 times before he gives up, noting that the skill was leveling up twice every time after the first.

His soul simply wasn't gonna heal that easily.

"WHY?!"

After a moment to get his emotions in check, he returns to his meditation in deep thought.

 _Babel is better now, that's for sure, but I can't heal my own soul. Kaus has a healing ability, but that was something I could visually confirm wasn't Aura based. The medicine kits have pills to boost Aura creation, but those require using your Aura itself..._

 _GAH!_

And then it dawns on him.

There was someone at this school that had a Aura related semblance of some kind.

 _Spectra._

Just like that, Draga's meditation broke and he went into a full sprint towards their dorm room. Yes, it was the middle of the night.

No, he did not care.

There was a horrible Nerf that could actually be undone, and he'd be damned if the chance slipped through his fingers.

* * *

Coal wakes up to what a nearly deaf person would describe as a knock, apparently being the only one in the room to. Monty knows how the hell these people hadn't hibernated a few years of their lives away by now.

That was besides the point, though.

In his current state, stuck somewhere between coma and zombie, he was barely able to drag himself to the door to unlock it before crashing once again.

There was only one thought in the teenagers mind.

 _Whoever made sleep-._

The thought stopped by the door swinging open in his face, knocking him backwards slightly while the wood suffers significantly worse scarring. Silver lining, he was awake now.

While he nurses his nose with one hand, he grabs the door and yells at the intruder.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

As he looks up at Draga, he catches a glimpse of Grim before it changes to his school form.

 _Shit... Did he notice?_

He noticed, but in his anger Coal was unable to really care about that.

"It's not even two in the morning. What could possibly be more important that me not killing you over sleep?"

Unlike what he would do normally, Draga doesn't smirk at his comment. It was typically best not to tick off someone who might be core to your continued existence.

Sure, Draga doubted he'd lose in a fight with the guy, but teammates were teammates.

"Is Spectra here?"

Coal somehow manages to look both infuriated and confused at the same time.

"Seriously? That's it?"

Coal groans with a hand sliding dramatically down his face. After one last glare at Draga, he gestures into the room.

"It's your funeral; everyone here has the sleep cycle of a bear in winter."

Despite the warning, Draga steps towards the bed he'd previously identified as hers. In an effort to give her privacy, he'd only used **Observe** rather than his typical full body scan.

The same could not be said for her roommates but hey- baby steps.

"Spectra?"

To his surprise, she wakes up easily.

 _So much for hibernating like a bear._

She was still half asleep, however, so Draga gives her a moment to join the world of the mostly living.

Squinting up at the shadowed figure above her, Spectra manages to speak properly. Impressive, coming from a teenager.

Draga would know that firsthand.

"What? Why are you here?"

While she busies herself with clearing the loose material from her eyes, Draga answers just that.

"Someone shattered my Aura."

Much as he expected, Spectra freezes at that; a moment later she manages to get enough control back to stare at him blankly.

"Yeah. I understand your confusion, but I know your semblance has to do with Aura. Can you help me?"

She closes her eyes and lets out a sigh, finally sitting up once it was over.

"I'll see what I can do, but, without spoiling anything, this isn't my field of expertise."

She places both hands on Draga's shoulders, followed by prodding various parts of his body. After around thirty different checks in various places, mostly near his chest, she plops back onto the bed with another sigh.

"You're boned."

...

...

...

"What?"

She takes a moment to clear her throat.

"Your Aura is in such a state of disrepair that I can't think of a way to help you. From the perspective of a normal human, you should be dead, or at least parts of you. Your Aura doesn't even exist across your entire body, Draga. That's not even possible."

Draga inhales sharply, looking down at her.

"So it's permanent?"

She sits back up, bracing her arms on her thighs while she leans forward.

"If it doesn't heal on it's own, then it's permanent."

Coal grabs Draga's shoulders, leading him to the door despite the bombshell just dropped on him.

"Well, you're clearly alive, a state you won't be if you keep me from my sleep any longer."

Shoving him out the still open door, he returns to his bed.

What was Draga doing or thinking during that?

Nothing.

He was in shock, and I mean that literally.

Well, mental shock anyway. All of the physical symptoms had faded the moment they began.

 _This is permanent?_

Draga notes in the back of his mind the movements he's forced into, including the sudden snap of the door slamming shut, but it's all background noise compared to the overwhelming feeling of depression.

 _My soul... No, I am irreparably damaged..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _No._

Draga clenches his fists at his sides, his head raising to the skies.

 _I am not taking this worlds abuse._

He sprints outside, idly noting that he's breaking curfew.

 _I will fight._

Nevva pulls herself out of the ground in the distance, gaining enough time by doing so to get up before Draga arrives.

 _I will get stronger._

Draga leaps aboard the giant bird, which takes off the moment he was upon it.

 _And I won't be-._

Nevva freezes in place, but not of her or Draga's will. Time was clearly still passing, so there was that, but it raised the question of why they weren't falling.

That question is answered a moment later when a certain man leaps up next to him.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Jaune Arc, The White Tiger**

Nevva tries to struggle, she really does, but whatever Jaune did to freeze them was clearly resisting it with more than enough force to prevent anything.

Jaune was still the cheating bastard he knew him as, thus far, anyway.

He certainly looked different, though.

 _That's the point of disguises, I guess._

The man before him was not Jaune in anything but name. His facial structure was more defined and masculine, he had facial hair, he had a white striped tail and paler hair, and he had a more defined physique. Now, Jaune didn't normally show his muscles around, but Draga had spent enough time with **Extrasensory Perceptions** to examine him thoroughly.

Turns out, Draga wasn't supposed to know it was him.

"Hello, Draga."

The voice was different too, but trying to describe how would be nearly impossible. There were a metric ton of subtle differences, but the broad strokes were the same. Of course, normal humans have similar voices all the time, so it wasn't a flaw in the disguise.

No, the only flaw was the game.

Lacking the name of Jaune's disguise, Draga merely smiles with a similar reply.

"Hello, White Tiger."

Jaune raises an eyebrow, but it was obviously deliberate. Nothing Jaune ever seemed to do was natural. It's like the guy thought basic social interaction was something only worth his time out of courtesy, except the occasional in combat quip, anyway.

"Ah, where are my manners. I am Jian Bing."

'Jian' bows, once again a deliberate and probably calculated move.

Draga attempts to mimic his behavior, but is halted by the same forces as Nevva.

"Don't be troubled, Jian. Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Jaune rises while gesturing towards Nevva's head with a spare hand.

"I believe that answer should be obvious, no?"

Draga nods, although it's slight due to the aforementioned effects.

"If I may make a request, can you allow us freedom of movement? It's ever so stuffy in here."

Man was that a weird sentence to say while in the morning-ish sky.

Jaune seems to oblige, however, as a moment later Nevva is forced to flap her wings to keep them aloft.

"Ah. Much better. Now, what did you want again?"

Jaune remains expressionless as he asks the same question as general Ironwood did on the wall, although he asks it with far more reason to answer it behind him.

"How are you controlling the Grimm?"

As before, though, Draga is nothing if not a coy little bastard.

"What can I say? I like birds."

Jaune narrows his eyes, obviously meaning something along the lines of 'answer properly or die'.

"Alright, alright. You probably won't believe me, but the Grimm themselves gave me the ability."

Jaune looks dubious, but gestures for him to continue without comment.

"Okay. I haven't explored it fully, but I can summon Grimm and control at least the ones I summon. My summoning is limited by various factors, such as my currently damaged Aura, but it's fairly flexible."

After a final moment of deliberation, Jaune asks one simple question.

"And where could I get this power?"

With a smile, Draga replies in a way that both fulfills his obligation to Malkuth and gets him out of this crazy boat.

"At Jericho Falls, of course."

* * *

 **Pardon the delay on this chapter. You'd be surprised how hard it is to write the remaining 1300 words this chapter had while sick.**

 **I had time, sure, but no will to write.**

 **Oh, and half that time was eaten by the coughing, so...**

 **Anyway, Here's Power-3 and, with it, his profile.**

 **Finally...**

 **And, just for you reviewer, I will keep this thing up from now on. The reason I had it off was Babel, so...**

 **Finally, I'm still only listing the details of an ability if it changes significantly, like leveling or acquisition. If any of you want that changed, I need to know ahead of time.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: [X]**

 **Title: Hokori-Girimasu**

 **Level: LVL35**

 **HP: 13890**

 **MP: 1020  
**

 **Str: 85(263)**

 **Vit: 55(263)**

 **Dex: 19(263)**

 **Int: 100**

 **Wis: 50(100)**

 **Luk: 50**

 **Points: 0  
**

 **Height: 6'1"**

 **Weight: 182 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [X]**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVLMAX EXP MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0 (DR)**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:50, 50 per second (Disabled)**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0 (VIT)**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **Elemental Presence (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:500, 500 per minute**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVLMAX MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:5000, 500 per second beyond 1 minute (Disabled)**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP: 50, 50 per 3 seconds**

 **Langit Sanjata (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Fantasy (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Breath of the World (Active & Passive) LVL14 EXP: 74.27% MP:0**

 **By meditating deeply upon the nature of the world, the user has come to understand his place within it—and as a part of it. With this skill, tapping into the flowing currents of energy around the user is as simple as breathing and the process of meditation itself has simplified. With this skill, it is no longer necessary to remain passive or stationary whilst meditating, as the user can remain focused through the common distractions of the world.**

 **Regen effects boosted by 113% while meditating.**

 **HP can be improved through meditation. (740)**

 **MP can be improved through meditation. (870)**

 **The user may meditate while physically active, so long as all actions taken remain simple.**

 **This skill deactivates immediately if the user is distracted or takes complex actions.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL8 EXP: 92.00% MP:9200**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 90.00%% MP:10000**

 **The Blind Fist (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Stampede (Active) LVLMAX MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **White Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL3 EXP: 8.15% 98, 25 per second.**

 **The foot technique developed by the Beast King Bai Hu.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 12%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 58% when active.**

 **Claws of the White Tiger (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per minute**

 **White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50**

 **White Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:750**

 **White Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 500, 500 per second**

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL8 EXP: 59.15%**

 **The inborn ability to perceive the world through the broad senses of the mind, rather than the limited ones of the body. Takes many forms dependent on the mentality and natural abilities of the user, but can grow with time and training.**

 **Expands Clairvoyance to encompass low levels of Clairaudience, Clairalience, Clairsentience, and Clairgustance. Improve by increasing level and INT.**

 **Clairsentience allows touch-range abilities may be used at a range of 5.35 meters.**

 **Other abilities will be unlocked with higher levels.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable**

 **Fire (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL18 EXP: 14.42% MP:91, 91 per second**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Giant's Strength (Passive) LVLMAX Stack: 1 MP:100, 100 per second**

 **Osteo (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Air (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Aureola (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% (Aura) (Disabled)**

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL8 EXP: 0.00% MP: 96000**

 **The ability to temporarily remove oneself from the normal flow of time. By warping time and space around himself to exist solely within a specific 'moment,' the user can seemingly cause time to stand still.**

 **Additional 96000 MP spent per 'moment.'**

 **Trample (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0**

 **Magic Coating (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Lightning Release (Active) LVL4 EXP: 96.51% MP:Variable**

 **Call of the Storm (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000 per second**

 **Panen (Passive) LVL? EXP: ? MP:0**

 **Life exists because of the sun, and death because of life. Unknown to most is the fourth piece in the chain: Panen, or growth**

 **Increases physical stats by the combination of other physical stats (Does not stack with itself).**

 **Increases physical stats growth rate by ?%.**

 **Grimm (Active) LVL18 EXP: 90.51% MP:Variable**

 **Grimm are a self-sustaining species. As a Grimm, it has now become your job.**

 **Summons a Grimm of a chosen species with a level based on mana spent.**

 **HP can be spent instead of MP to summon a Grimm.**

 **Minimum levels exist for all species except Beowulf's.**

 **Currently available species: Beowulf, Nevermore, Goliath, and Geist.**

 **Sliding Mastery (Passive) LVL21 EXP: 13.74% MP:0**

 **Whether on wheels, blades, or otherwise, mastery of sliding along surfaces can be invaluable.**

 **Increases speed by 21% while sliding.**

 **Decreases turn width by 14% while sliding.**

 **Streamlined (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 64.32% MP:0**

 **Like all physical objects, you are subject to air resistance. Why? Nobody knows. So, let's get rid of it.**

 **Reduces drag and wind forces by 9%.**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Tower Of Babel - A necklace, previously owned and empowered by a man named Babel, that has been infused with the soul of its wearer and became an alternative to their spirit rather than a supplement. Acts as an independent MP tank for the one who's soul it is bounded to. Current binding: Draga Konungur. Current MP total: 14867. Certain effects have not been discovered.**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Grimm Affliction [MAX]**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**

 **Soul Tearing [MAX]**

 **While not completely gone, your Aura has been destroyed.**

 **99% reduced MP total.**

 **99% reduced MP regen.**

 **99% reduced DR.**

 **Aura and all modifiers of it are disabled.**

 **Further soul damage will result in deletion.**


	31. Power-4

Jaune narrows his eyes, but he doesn't call Draga's bluff.

 _Thank Tet for that._

"Jericho falls? I've been interested for quite some time. I think we can have a little field trip; I'll inform Ozpin of what we're doing."

Playing out the way he'd be expected to, Draga raises an eyebrow and questions him.

"You are in contact with the wizard?"

Internally cringing at his own awful pun, Draga glances back towards the Tower of Beacon, as he called it anyway.

 _Ozpin, what are you doing?_

There was little else to think, really. Ozpin was far more powerful than the both of them, so there was nothing they'd be able to do about it.

That left one question that needed answers, though. Why would Jian have contact with Ozpin? The man was clearly experienced at controlling his actions and words, but Jaune was the student. One of two things was true based on all of this.

Jaune was an idiot, or Jian was far more important than he was aware of.

"Yes, I am. Shall we be off, then?"

Draga smiles while letting out a brief sigh.

"Alright, captain."

A wave of energy washes over Draga, apparently being the barrier technique Jaune used on their first encounter. The wave seems to delete the few people and animals within vision, leaving only Draga, Jaune, and Nevva behind.

Jaune wastes no time, already flying towards wherever they were going.

Draga wastes as much as possible, since something feels wrong here.

It's not the emptiness, because that would have bothered him last time, so what was it?

It takes a moment, but he thinks of something.

Triggering both **White Eyes** and **Black Eyes** , in separate eyes of course, Draga glances around.

The place was completely empty of them.

There were 0 white or black constructs, and there weren't any new shades or colors either.

It was just... Nothing.

There was another thing he learned, though. With Aura Skates and his eye techniques, he'd all but confirmed that his Aura was still functional. The ability was gone, but it wasn't.

That was good.

Unfortunately, Draga isn't let to just blow of time there. The same force that froze him and Nevva in place originally starts pushing him after Jaune.

 _Fine, fine. I'm going._

Draga signals Nevva to follow naturally, Jaune's pressure letting off once they start.

"To Jericho?"

Jaune nods, taking the more time and energy efficient way of saying 'yes'.

 _Man, this guy really is ridiculous. Efficiency over all things, huh?_

The discomfort is still there, but it's greater with his changed eyes, so he returns them to normal.

"I will be calling a few friends."

When he says this, Jaune apparently doesn't mean a phone call.

The world around them shatters into pieces, returning the few people around the streets to reality. It seems Jaune was prepared, however, as a cloud surrounds the both of them.

I don't mean a physical cloud, though. That'd be far too reasonable.

These were clearly holograms, as they had no physicality when he pushed against them.

 _Alright..._

A moment later, an extra voice is heard.

"Hello, Jaune. Is it time?"

 _Who is that?_

To answer his own question, Draga triggers **Extrasensory Perception**...

He instantly regrets his decision. Yes, he found the new voice, and it was someone named Raven Branwen.

That wasn't the issue.

What was the issue was the seemingly infinite light pouring off of Jaune in droves under the cloud cover.

The skill is disabled the moment he could, but the searing pain to his eyes was already complete.

Being blinded was something most people dealt with for short moments of their life all the time, but usually it's not at high speeds, loosely attached to a bird, and in an incredibly painful manner.

Draga would have fallen, but it seems Jaune was able to detect him while within the cloud as his body is held in place on the bird.

"Thanks."

Since he doesn't get a reply, Draga returns to just listening in. As they travel, Jaune gradually moves them down and towards the city.

 _Why would he do that?_

The answer comes a moment later with, unknown to both Nevva and Draga, there was suddenly ground beneath them.

Unprepared for that, Nevva has to dig in her talons and beak to stop herself from tumbling forward. Draga, meanwhile, is sent careening forward and out of the cloud. Catching himself in a three contact slide on the soil, he manages to control his stop at least partially.

"What the hell, man. A little warning!"

Jaune turns to face him, idly noting that Raven was looking at Draga quizzically.

"Warning you would defeat the purpose of testing you."

Before Draga can get a word in edgewise, Raven questions Jaune.

"Why is he coming with us?"

Rather then answer her, Jaune dismisses the illusion around the Giant Nevermore, revealing it to the both of them.

Raven doesn't question it, apparently having seen enough shit to be fine with it.

"Alright. You wanted to have some fun with Adam, yeah?"

Jaune smiles, as in a full blown shit-eating grin. Despite that, it was somehow malicious as well.

"One moment."

Jaune glows in the same manner Draga saw before; however, thanks to **Extrasensory Perceptions** being deactivated, Draga isn't hurt once again. With that glow, he dives through the ground itself as if it weren't there and breaks into an underground room accompanied by a cacophony of noise trailing behind him.

It would have been far more funny if he was actually in the building with him to see Adam's reaction, but with the blinding properties Jaune emitted on a regular basis, he wasn't going to bother.

While he patiently waits for Jaune to return, Draga starts something he probably should have done a long time ago: funneling all of his MP regen into Babel. The same was completed with his HP regen and **Scales** , but in a less than perfect manner. His HP regen, while static, wasn't a simple percent like .5% per second.

 _Shame on you, game, for giving me this crap._

Not like it really mattered. With the Tower of Babel on his side, he could conquer the heavens. Yes, I am referencing the bible, but I am also being serious. It made his MP pool theoretically infinite, even if his MP regen wasn't relative to the storage tank.

Sure, it wasn't much now, but eventually it would be worth it.

A moment later, Draga realizes something extra: using **Scales** in this manner was, for whatever reason, granting him **Nature Affinity** EXP.

 _Well, it's that nice._

Several minutes pass before Jaune and Adam come up through the hole in the ground, which closes upon their exit. During that time, Draga was meditating against a tree.

I mean, what else was he gonna do? Contribute to a meaningful conversation with Raven?

Like that would ever happen.

"So... I can fly, Draga has the Nevermore, and Raven can teleport. Adam, you gotta choose one of us to join."

He grumbles about something, but opts to stay with Raven.

This is followed a moment later by Jaune making a 'Mommies boy' jab, but Adam manages to reign himself in.

Attacking someone that powerful wasn't exactly a wise idea.

Speaking of which, here's a good idea of their relative power levels.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Jaune Arc, The Elementalist**

 **[LVL85]**

 **Raven Branwen, The Assassins Gateway**

 **[LVL76]**

 **Adam Taurus, The Beast**

Fortunately, Raven was at a level Draga could **Observe** and get actual info from. She apparently used portals and dust blades to attack, something that sounded completely overpowered even just on paper.

Adam could just charge up and fire a beam of Aura.

 _Boring!_

Not to say it wasn't useful, but Draga could probably do that. He would definitely be able to if not for the severe damage, but hey, chances are still potential things.

"Alright, I'm off. Raven, bring em over with portals once I make sure the coast is clear."

Without waiting for Raven's nod, Jaune has already vanished into the distance. It was only obvious where he was going by the new crack opened in the ground stretching miles on sight.

How anybody fought something like that was a story for another day.

"Is he always like that?"

Raven sighs while Adam takes the chance to rag on his friend.

"If you peeled back the facade he puts on everywhere, you'd find some many eyed alien monstrosity beneath."

Of course, a question lingered around that statement.

"Seriously?"

Hey, people were strange as hell here. Who knows? Could be true.

And by Adam's stare, Draga was inclined to believe him until evidence contrary to it comes up.

 _Man, I really need to get some intimidation skills._

While the group is forced to wait for whatever Jaune is doing, Draga sits back and enjoys a nice nap.

* * *

Turns out, people are adverse to waking others up; instead, they'd like to shoot you spinning off into danger while still under.

 _I hate all of you._

Apparently 'bring em over with portals' meant 'drop them from the sky after I've turned the land into a burning hellscape'.

And that was an accurate description for the pit of fire and death below them, although there was a strange building still standing far below and slightly north. During the freefall, the three of them got a perfect look at Jaune's creation: a plain of dead Grimm.

That's not to say they were all dead, or even most of them, actually. Whatever ability he used was clearly behind in power, since the majority survived.

Or the Grimm were just broken; it was hard to tell which without seeing the attack that made a second hell on Remnant.

The Grimm that survived were largely between level 40 and 80, with one towering giant having an invisible level.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Gilgamesh**

There wasn't a title for him, unlike many of the lesser Grimm beneath him, but that was the only thing that seemed weak about him. His entire body was armored in the same material as a Grimm mask and nothing about him seemed at all welcoming.

The attack wasn't over, it seems, as Jaune fires three giant spears the hitherto unmoving giant. Despite his impressive height at well over thirty feet, Gilgamesh blurs out of place to dodge the similarly blurred movement of what **Observe** identifies as **Longinus**.

 _Man, if he wants to dodge those, I can't even imagine what they'd do to me._

It was around this time the ground chose to meet them, but by that time Nevva had been resummoned from the ground below. She catches Draga, bringing him to a halt in a much less painful way then slamming into and through the planet.

Raven and Adam seem unaffected by the fall as they simply land on their feet, already starting to attack the various other Grimm surrounding them.

It's then that Draga notices something.

None of the Grimm were looking at him.

It wasn't that the Grimm were all drawn to Jaune, Raven, and Adam either, although that was most of them. His presence was in the sky, where several griffons were flying about, but none of them so much as glanced in his direction.

 _Does my skill make them think I'm an ally?_

It was cool, but like most creatures Grimm probably would attack if he did.

 _I guess I'm running support duty then._

But there was a problem with that: none of them seemed to need help. Gilgamesh was seemingly ineffective in his attacks on Jaune, Raven had too much maneuverability with those portals to ever be in danger, and Adam was apparently capable of just deflecting an entire Goliath.

 _Nevermind._

Draga sets out to meditate, intent on entering his soul to meet Mal again.

* * *

"Hello?"

Draga was back in the field of nothing, and that seemed to be true. Not even Mal seemed to be here.

That was proven false when he turns around and comes face to face with the monolithic being that he could swear wasn't there a moment ago.

 **"Yes, Draga? If this is about Jericho Falls, then know that I can see what Gilgamesh sees."**

Nodding, Draga asks a pair of questions.

"Did you tell all the Grimm to avoid me? Oh, and you mentioned training me?"

Mal nods, the world blurring into what appears to be reality around them. Below them, Draga could see the fight as it happened. Jaune was doing more crazy things, like glowing like a sun, but at this point he doubted there was anything really beyond him.

"I am going to assume we aren't back in the actual world."

 **"That's correct."**

Mal looks down blankly, although when you lack facial features everything you do seems blank.

 **"The Grimm below aren't in contact with me, the exception being Gilgamesh. Grim is the source of their pacifism. They won't listen to you, but only because you are just another Grimm to them."**

He turns to face Draga, still sideways in the air (not like direction matter while within Draga's soul).

 **"As for your training, you will have to wait."**

Without hesitance, Draga replies in indignation.

"I completed my assignment! I will be compensated."

While Mal thinks of a fitting reply, Draga looks down at the battlefield once more. Adam was being pressured slightly by the oncoming horde of Grimm, but thanks to Raven any progress they gained was continuously reset. Jaune, meanwhile, was completely out of sight along with Gilgamesh.

 **"You will be rewarded, just not now. I have a date with Keter."**

Just as Jaune and Gilgamesh are missing, so too does Mal vanish from the plane. With him, the surrounding view of the outside world fades.

 _Ugh..._

Draga, unaware of how to leave this place of his own accord, is forced to experiment slight. Fortunately, just thinking about the world shattering effect produced when Mal hit him last time breaks the world apart around him, converting it to the comfortable black his senses keep diverting to.

* * *

 _You know what; if he's gonna be a twit, I am going to return the favor._

Draga leaps off of his giant bird to the ground below, the glow produced by his many active enhancements appearing around him as he falls. He might not have the mana to just pay for them, but with **Scales** and the new Babel, he'd be up for this, at least.

The power behind him is on display the moment Draga impacts the ground; furthermore, the impact blows the sand and stone away from his location and speeds capable of shredding many of the nearby Grimm.

With a solid surface beneath him, Draga sprints around the battlefield, taking out whatever he trusts himself to just blow through without trouble. Since nothing seems to aggro onto him, besides the occasional stare from one of the about to be dead Grimm, he can safely presume these things are being affected by the game.

In most video games, aggro functions off of exactly three things: your stats and levels, their stats and levels, and the damage or healing you are doing.

Since Draga was almost definitely doing less damage than the flashes of Raven that he saw on the rare moment she wasn't moving too fast for him to see, it was fairly safe to assume he was safe in two of those categories.

And with that, he wasn't gonna get attacked.

 _Sweet._

Content in his relative safety, Draga burns through some of his HP to scale his time rate and kill even more Grimm, gaining quite a few levels due to their own high stats and the sheer number that were there. It honestly seemed there was no end, and the skies being clogged with Nevermore and Griffons didn't deter that impression.

 _Just keep grinding, grinding, grinding._

It's rather difficult to describe how powerful it makes you feel to skate around at full speed, just plowing through droves of enemies that posed no real threat due to how they were targeting and attacking.

Shitty game it may be; fun was to be had.

Although, when you think about, there was something rather unsatisfying. Maybe it was the lack of real threat the Grimm seemed to pose.

 _Not making that mistake twice._

Screw entertainment. Pride or pursuit of a real challenge got him last time, and damn anyone who would say he falls for anything twice.

This continues for several minutes, which feels exponentially longer for Draga as he soars around tearing into the Grimm around him. All the while, his Nevermore took to the skies in a massive flock and downed anything they could get their beaks into.

His Grimm being willing to attack the others on command was important. It proved that they were under his command, and not Mal's.

Man, how that could be used once he got his powers back.

It wasn't until he'd gained 15 levels and Osteo leveled up his Str to 100 that he realized just how valuable this all was, though. Three simple words: Dosa, Daya, and Dapat.

 **Mark Of Kreasi - Dosa (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Kreasi was an ancient demigod granted power by arcane script. During his travels, he perfected the technique and created a series of marks that each grant their own bonuses. Dosa was made to give it's users enhanced longevity and vitality in combat.**

 **Grants 25% lifesteal with melee attacks.**

 **Mark Of Kreasi - Daya (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Kreasi was an ancient demigod granted power by arcane script. During his travels, he perfected the technique and created a series of marks that each grant their own bonuses. Daya was made to give it's users incredible power.**

 **Increases damage dealt with physical attacks by 50%.**

 **Mark Of Kreasi - Dapat (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Kreasi was an ancient demigod granted power by arcane script. During his travels, he perfected the technique and created a series of marks that each grant their own bonuses. Dapat was made to give it's users an unbreakable will to fight despite the odds.**

 **Increases Str by 1% per nearby enemy.**

Now, the first two were honestly pretty balanced compared to several other benchmark abilities he'd encountered, but that last one was ridiculous.

Nearby was apparently pretty huge because a simple glance at the top of his status page revealed just how ridiculous the army he faced was and just how ridiculous the game decided to make him, at least right now.

All of his physical stats were in the thousands.

 _Man, Giant's Strength and Panen are pretty bogus too._

All of the combined bonuses to his power made instakilling even the level 80 Grimm lying about childsplay, resulting in even more power grinding. Although, with all the time passing, there was one question lingering about.

 _Where the hell was Jaune?_

Draga had no idea what would be required for Mal to speak to Keter, so there was no way to know how long it would take, but as the horde of Grimm starts actually thinning around them, a realization about the amount of time passed doing this truly dawns on Draga.

 _Man, you better not die. You still gotta explain some shit to Ozpin for me._

Yes, he was that petty, but it was more centered on not having any other obligations between the two of them.

* * *

Jaune sat defeated within his own barrier. Despite the obviously broken potential his longinus held, he wasn't able to defeat the rapidly healing titan in front of him. Gilgamesh wasn't offensively powerful, at all really, but when you were effectively immortal there was little counterplay.

With the fire of many suns blasts around the confines of the dimensional segment they were within, Gilgamesh's white armor plating appeared black while he spoke to Jaune.

"Come now, Keter. Surely this is not what we prepared so much for?"

Unfortunately, it was. If it wasn't for the promise of controlling the Grimm, Jaune would have waited months, maybe years if he was allowed, before coming here.

 _He enticed me..._

While cursing Draga's name, Jaune enters a seemingly casual stance amidst the nothing that they occupied.

"Can I speak to Malkuth now? Me and him have some business to attend to."

Gilgamesh would have smiled, although this hardly means anything when he lacks a face with which to do it.

"As you wish."

He does a gentlemanly bow towards Jaune, a sphere of black Jaune had identified long ago becoming more prominent and absorbing his body until nothing remained of the once mighty giant. Instead, there was an onyx orb floating in the field of nothing, devouring the heat and light flooding the area.

To Jaune's mild surprise, it was able to speak, although honestly little was able to get that far by now.

 **"You called, darling brother?"**

Jaune merely stares at the shape.

 **"Oh heavens, do you not remember me? Such a shame. I wanted to talk with Keter, and all that's here is a mortal boy."**

Jaune lets out an exasperated sigh, his body suddenly glowing with a vibrant white light. The light sheds itself of it's mortal coil, forming an entity unto itself: an elemental.

A light elemental.

"What is it, Malkuth?"

 **"You should remember. Break me free of my binds, or it's another ten thousand years for you."**

Keter doesn't answer, frustrating the imprisoned one of them.

 **"Return me to this world or I will make you suffer something worse than Death."**

(Note the capital D in Death.)

"I will not let you run around this world as you please, because even if Jaune perishes you will lose."

 **"And why is that?"**

If light elementals could smirk, this one would.

"Because you made a single mistake."

With that cryptic statement, Keter returns to Jaune's body faster than even the Gamer himself could react, and he was running on an 120 times time rate.

Malkuth mulls over the information for a moment, giving Jaune a moment to last a final desperate attack: throwing a longinus at the center of the sphere. To his surprise, the attack functions flawlessly and the sphere shatters, but it doesn't vanish.

It seems Malkuth wasn't willing to leave just yet, so the pieces freeze in place to give him an extra moment to speak.

 **"Jaune-."**

Malkuth is interrupted by the slightly confused but still somehow calm reincarnated Archangel.

"I will offer you a deal, Malkuth. We both have plans, and backup plans, and backup plans for the backups to those backup plans. But, there are things besides my plans that matter. I will offer to leave your Grimm well alone if, in exchange, you hold off on your actions as well."

Malkuth doesn't react right away, which unfortunately takes up his remaining time prior to the shattering continue. Exactly one word manages to escape his theoretical lips before the sphere entirely turns to smoke: fine.

Of course, that word had a bunch of frustration and annoyance and was obviously untrustworthy, but you take what you can get.

A single oversight on his enemies part was enough to pull a victory out of his ass, and that was enough for him.

 _Although, I will be making even more backup plans now._

Trump cards were for everyone.

Unfortunately, when his dimensional barrier fades, a realization that came over him several minutes ago finally takes full effect.

The whole setup was a trap.

There was no way Malkuth would just let someone with the ability to control Grimm exist if he/she wasn't working with him.

 _Is Draga Death?_

A few more thoughts come into his head, but all of them came with questions he couldn't answer right now.

So, there was only one way to find out.

* * *

"Ah, Jaune. You're back."

Draga waves towards him, idly crushing the skull of a Goliath with his other hand. He'd gained more levels by now, reaching a total of 61 from his original 35, and he could see Draga's **LVL106** floating above his head.

Something was off about Jaune, though. He was always acting and moving in the most efficient and blatant way possible, so his slightly stiff job towards the three of them was incredibly out of place. It seems to pass, though, as the stiffness is gone before he reaches him.

"Indeed."

Jaune holds out a hand to Draga, apparently content about something.

 _Okay... Did he actually get the Grimm skill from this place?_

He takes the hand anyway, and regrets it less than a blink later.

His HP was already at 0.

 _Okay..._

A glance downward would reveal Jaune's hand was now through Draga's sternum, and by the lack of reaction from Adam he was apparently unperterbed by whatever Jaune was doing.

Raven was... Not to be seen actually. The Grimm weren't completely annihilated, so she was probably out wiping some distant black specs.

And then there was Jaune's reaction, a somber frown in his direction.

 _I guess this is a big fuck you, then._

Taking advantage of the few milliseconds he has left before he collapses and the world turns to black, Draga manages to cast Grimm.

You know how he overkilled himself earlier, but it still summoned a Grimm with the proper mana cost?

That one was only slightly below 44k MP.

How about we make that number closer to 7.5 trillion instead?

Draga smiles as his last act before the world turns black around him.

* * *

 **AHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **Super high level Nevermore running around under the command of an insane person.**

 **1 life left, though, so there's that. Hey, look. Draga's actually fucking mortal now and can't abuse the shit out of his Grimm skill to summon gods.**

 **Except he already did.**

 **AHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **Anyway, I'm sure you're all curious about what I am gonna do with this to make genuine dramatic stakes.**

 **Well, you're gonna have to wait. Somebody wanted Infinity Paradox and I am gonna give it to them.**

 **Also, keen viewers may remember a deal with Tet being made for extra lives. I assure you that I am not gonna allow this level of Draga to use that.**

 **Speaking of levels... Character page!**

 **Note: everything in this page is accurate, but some things haven't been explained because they were created during the last 2 seconds of the chapter.**

 **Name: Draga Konungar**

 **Class: [X]**

 **Title: The Grimm God**

 **Level: LVL61**

 **HP: 71545**

 **MP: 65400  
**

 **Str: 111(1415.5)**

 **Vit: 55(1415.5)**

 **Dex: 19(1415.5)**

 **Int: 100(430)**

 **Wis: 50(430)**

 **Luk: 50**

 **Points: 130  
**

 **Height: 6'6"**

 **Weight: 248 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVLMAX EXP MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 200**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0 (DR)**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:50, 50 per second**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0 (VIT)**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **Elemental Presence (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:500, 500 per minute**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVLMAX MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:5000, 500 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP: 50, 50 per 3 seconds**

 **Langit Sanjata (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Fantasy (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Breath of the World (Active & Passive) LVL14 EXP: 74.27% MP:0**

 **HP can be improved through meditation. (770)**

 **MP can be improved through meditation. (900)**

 **The user may meditate while physically active, so long as all actions taken remain simple.**

 **This skill deactivates immediately if the user is distracted or takes complex actions.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL8 EXP: 92.00% MP:9200**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 90.00%% MP:10000**

 **The Blind Fist (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Stampede (Active) LVLMAX MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **White Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL3 EXP: 8.15% 98, 25 per second.**

 **The foot technique developed by the Beast King Bai Hu.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 12%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 58% when active.**

 **Claws of the White Tiger (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per minute**

 **White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50**

 **White Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:750**

 **White Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 500, 500 per second**

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL8 EXP: 59.15%**

 **The inborn ability to perceive the world through the broad senses of the mind, rather than the limited ones of the body. Takes many forms dependent on the mentality and natural abilities of the user, but can grow with time and training.**

 **Expands Clairvoyance to encompass low levels of Clairaudience, Clairalience, Clairsentience, and Clairgustance. Improve by increasing level and INT.**

 **Clairsentience allows touch-range abilities may be used at a range of 5.35 meters.**

 **Other abilities will be unlocked with higher levels.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable**

 **Fire (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL18 EXP: 14.42% MP:91, 91 per second**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Giant's Strength (Passive) LVLMAX Stack: 1 MP:100, 100 per second**

 **Osteo (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Air (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Aureola (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00%**

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL8 EXP: 0.00% MP: 96000**

 **Trample (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0**

 **Magic Coating (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Lightning Release (Active) LVL4 EXP: 96.51% MP:Variable**

 **Call of the Storm (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000 per second**

 **Panen (Passive) LVL? EXP: ? MP:0**

 **Grimm (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Grimm are a self-sustaining species. As a Grimm, it has now become your job.**

 **Summons a Grimm of a chosen species with a level based on mana spent.**

 **HP can be spent instead of MP to summon a Grimm.**

 **Minimum levels exist for all species except Beowulf's.**

 **Currently available species: Beowulf, Nevermore, Goliath, and Geist.**

 **Sliding Mastery (Passive) LVL21 EXP: 13.74% MP:0**

 **Streamlined (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 64.32% MP:0**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Tower Of Babel - A necklace, previously owned and empowered by a man named Babel, that has been infused with the soul of its wearer and became an alternative to their spirit rather than a supplement. Acts as an independent MP tank for the one who's soul it is bounded to. Current binding: Draga Konungur. Current MP total: 0. Certain effects have not been discovered.**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Trinket: Chaos Token - Unknown effects.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Grimm Affliction [MAX]**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**


	32. Power-5

A certain Gamer wakes up in the skies of Disboard once more.

"Draga."

Upon his name being spoken, he turns towards Tet, only to find him sitting down on the edge of a floating cube with his head resting on his hands.

"Tet."

A pause goes on between them, the awkwardness not affecting either of them as they they merely stare.

"You aren't going to enjoy your chosen path."

Hanging his head in a resigned smile, Draga closes his eyes.

"I suppose you're probably right."

He lifts his head to look at him once more, his smile becoming more confident.

"But I'm not done."

Tet returns his smile, but the True God's smile is more somber.

"That's that, then."

He raises his arm slowly upwards.

"Goodbye, Draga."

With a snap of his hand, the world turns black at once.

* * *

The world was still black when he opened his eyes, but for a different reason. Anyone there looking up would see that the sky itself was now black.

There was an explanation for that.

 **[LVL150]**

 **Surga, The Blackened Sky**

The Nevermore he summoned filled the sky, easily spanning a mile with it's physically impossible wings.

 _Ho-ho-ho._

That wasn't all, though. As he glances around himself, his old text boxes were all gone. That was standard by now, but there were several new ones already spinning around him.

With a touch of **Extrasensory Perception** he reads through all of them in less than a second.

 **By restoring your Aura the skill [Aura] has been enabled!**

 **By restoring your Aura the skill [Lightning Aura] has been enabled!**

 **By restoring your Aura the skill [Aureola] has been enabled!**

 **By summoning a Grimm with a level above 120 you have acquired the title [The Grimm God]!**

 **Grimm God (Equipped)**

 **Since time immemorial Grimm have walked Remnant with only a vague order to follow: destroy those surrounded by Specters of Grim. However, like all things, their life will change. There is a new order in play: yours.**

 **Grants dominion over any Grimm not in direct control by a Rider or Malkuth.**

 **Decreases summoning scale per level from 1.2 to 1.15.**

 **Increases EXP generation by summoned Grimm by 50%.**

The title made sense, mostly.

 _What the hell is a rider?_

But the other three notifications were completely out of place. How did he restore his Aura?

He glances down to his neck where Babel sat. A glance at his newly opened status page revealed that it was empty.

 _My soul goes to Disboard when I die... I poured my Aura into Babel back when it was still in tact, so could it pour it back into my corpse via path of least resistance?_

Another thought enters his head.

 _What happened to the magic Babel poured into it?_

The item was currently empty, meaning there wasn't anything in it that could be converted to MP. Does that mean Babel's magic was part of him now? Even less obvious was whether that meant anything. With his soul in tact and **Gamer's**...

 **Gamer's Mind** was missing.

 _Well..._

That was a problem. **Cleanse** was available again, so he wasn't completely doomed, but, if anybody pulled something like **Puppet Strings** out of their ass again, he'd be screwed.

 _Alright, I'll deal with that later. For now... I have an introduction to do._

The power of a reputation or lies should never be doubted. If someone believes you to be far too powerful to fight, that fear can be enough of an advantage to make it true.

That, and both Jaune and the game gave him a wonderful idea.

 _I will become the true God of Grimm._

Using the appearance editor, he changes his appearance completely in order to make it match the creatures of Grimm.

 **For a visual, look at the picture to the story. It might be changed later, but I will deal with that when it happens. You can click for a larger version of the photo.**

Beneath his white plague-doctor mask, Draga smiles.

That doesn't really help Jaune's impression of him.

* * *

 _I was right... He's clearly not just a man with a strong power. He's Death._

A glance above his head didn't exactly help either.

 **The Grimm God  
LV61  
Draga Konungur**

The level was anything exemplary, but levels were

While Draga apparently stares upwards at his creation in awe, Jaune was already in action. Of course, since he just witnessed his appearance become completely different, him summon a level 150 Grimm which was higher than Gilgamesh, and die without any lasting injury, that action was getting the hell out of there.

Despite Adam's complaints, Jaune triggers **Naraka** long enough for Adam to get away. Raven does the same, but without the use of his personal dimension.

* * *

Draga looks down at himself, thinking for a moment how to appear even more intimidating.

An obvious conclusion is reached when black smoke starts slowly rising from it as if a Grimm was dying inside, but the effect would never slow much less stop.

He doesn't get a chance to continue as Jaune materializes in front of him.

"You're gonna want to fight me, yes?"

Before he even gets a chance, the game answers for him.

 **Background Music Enabled -Indestructible, Disturbed  
**

Not quite an answer, but the background music mostly came on for combat.

Jaune nods once, his body coming alight with a bright white glow. The glow bulges at his side, forming an independent tiger within moments.

Draga continues to just sit as Draga prepared further, growing a tail among other physical change. Lastly, white bone-like stuff the Grimm use to defend themselves bubbles out of his skin and forms a sleek defensive layer around him.

Somehow, though, Jaune isn't done there. He pulls a collection of dust crystals from his **Inventory** and consumes them with some skill Draga'd never seen.

"Are you done?"

Silent as before, Jaune only attacks in reply. While he and his manifested tiger dash forward at a rate Draga can barely perceive, a veritable army of glowing spheres form from the air already heading towards the newly made God.

 _Done._

Draga dumps what would have been a few hundred thousand MP into **Lightning Release** ; the attack obliterates everything in it's way, including the ground, the strange spheres **Observe** called 'Magic Missiles', and the white tiger. Jaune, being who he is, vanished from his spot the moment the field of energy left Draga's body.

 _Tsk._

After a moment, Jaune reappears wielding two spears, both of which Draga recognizes as Longinus. He was already mid-swing, but with his frankly irresponsible speed granted from **Lightning Aura** on top of **Aureola** , there wasn't much difficulty in leaping sideways from them.

"If you're gonna annoy me, at least do it properly."

Jaune still doesn't react with words, just throwing both spears at him.

Draga doesn't dodge this time.

He catches them.

"Jaune, seriously. Stop it."

* * *

 _I can't let him get to me._

So far all of his skills had failed. Glancing quickly above, he confirmed that Draga still had a insta-win trump card just sitting above him. Jaune could dodge, but an entire city couldn't.

 _Think... Think you idiot._

Draga had obviously been vulnerable to physical attacks before, but with his most recent defense he'd proved how useless that would be against him. While he had plenty of ranged attacks as well, they relied on the target either being vulnerable to damage over time, something Draga clearly wasn't, or being able to hit them despite their speed.

That last one was never a problem with Grimm, but that was because they didn't dodge shit.

 _Man... I was prepared for Gilgamesh and not for someone nearly half my level?_

Draga was helpfully smug and confident in his victory, which gave him plenty of time to recover his HP and MP, but it meant nothing if Draga was unaffected by everything.

After a moment, Jaune throws out a ball of light towards Draga, who just sits as it linearly moves towards him.

 **By raising Lux Aeterna to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Ohr Ein Sof.'**

It hasn't been leveled up for all that long, but it was still there.

 _Unraveling vs everyone on this planet being completely screwed._

Not much of a dilemma, is it? Unstoppable Grimm slaying potential in exchange for the cold embrace of death?

The attack hit the still unmoving Draga, producing an even more brilliant spectacle of light which seems to pull itself back into the ball and turned dark.

And then it triggered.

* * *

Draga opens his eyes, noting the skies of Disboard around him.

 _Something's off._

He finds out a moment later what it was: his abilities were still active.

Whenever he died, they were disabled.

"What's going on, Tet?"

Nobody answers, which confuses Draga for a moment, before he turns around.

 **[ERROR]**

 **Daebyeol, The Souls End  
**

"So I am dead."

Standing, or floating depending on your perspective, a few meters away was the traditional picture of the Grim Reaper except it wasn't a skeleton.

It was a little girl.

"I wouldn't say that."

She gestures towards the cube beneath her, one of it's faces coming alight like a TV screen and displaying his fight with Jaune. It even continues slightly past the last attack, showing both of them still standing, although Jaune's expression isn't normal.

It's hard to tell with the angle it's shown at, but he clearly wasn't indifferent as usual.

And then Jaune vanishes.

"So... I won?"

"In a sense, but you were hit with his attack."

She pauses momentarily before finishing.

"You are unraveling."

Draga is taken aback at that, completely lacking understanding of what that would represent.

"So... Perma-death?"

She pinches the bridge of her nose, gesturing towards his still equipped necklace. With a sigh of exasperation she replies.

"Nope. Your fate is slightly different thanks to that bloody trinket of yours. Man, you humans just can't make my job easy, can you?"

The necklace glows a vibrant blue before the effect travels along the chain and into Draga.

"By dictation of the council of Deaths, you are now Babel."

...

...

...

Draga looks down at himself in all encompassing confusion.

He didn't feel any different, and his thoughts were still the same. Even checking through his newly memory, he doesn't discover anything new.

"What does that mean?"

She waves him off, the world slowly turning to black. Just before it fades, she says one last thing.

"I have no idea."

* * *

Draga's senses suddenly return as if he hadn't just had the vision. In fact, he was still blinded by the light created by Jaune's attack. He freezes for a moment, watching the brief events he witnessed unfold real time.

Jaune looks on in abject horror before fizzling from existence.

 _What the hell just happened?_

The unraveling didn't even cause Draga to vanish from his location for his little dimensional trip, so why did it do that to Jaune?

A headache starts forming which Draga cleanses out of his skull.

 _I don't feel any different in real life either..._

Draga checks his status page and finds something rather horrifying in its own right.

 **Name: Babel Menara**

 **Class: Arcane Specter  
**

The class was nice, actually.

 **Arcane Specter [Class]**

 **The power of magic has always been a fickle thing. Many have tried to tame it and suffered the consequences while others make it flow with ease. On a rare occasion, however, magic can become someone.**

 **All but 1 max HP is converted to max MP.**

 **MP can be used instead of HP for any reason.**

 **Decrease all MP spent on abilities by 50%.**

Yes, the clause of HP being reduced sucked, but it meant he had a frankly stupid amount of MP and, by conversion, HP. It said any reason, that would include damage, right?

There wasn't much he could do about it though. Besides the class change, it seemed little was different.

So where did that leave Draga/Babel?

 _What to do? Jaune's gone, and all the Grimm here are dead.  
_

He really needed to plan these things ahead of time, but with how much life liked to shit on him and his plans it wasn't possible normally.

Well, he had time.

 _I now have the power to assert myself anywhere I want, but what to do with it?_

People would obviously fear him, the over level 100 Jaune falling pitifully, and with his power taking over the world wouldn't be any fun. Anyone that stepped up would be obliterated, and that would apply to entire kingdoms.

Although, that brought up another question. **Gamer's Mind** wasn't there, so would he feel guilt at his actions like a normal person? He hoped so, since he wasn't going to do the rampage option anyway, but neither answer really held up well.

 _Before anything, I have to prepare._

In the spirit of things, the game helpfully puts on a song in the background.

 **Background Music Enabled - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Set It Off  
**

It takes a moment, but he figures out why it chose this song.

It was ostensibly about being a paranoid nutter getting his revenge.

He was definitely paranoid, but he wasn't seeking revenge, which left him with a question.

 _Who would I even need to get payback on?_

Nobody was still alive that truly wronged him. Back on Disboard, he couldn't really be antagonized, and once he became the Gamer, everything that formed a true villain character was killed. Spirit was gone, the Hokori leaders were gone...

 _Huh, is that really it?_

Villains were basically a requirement to good stories. Had he really been left out?

 _You know what... I'm gonna become the villain, then. I already know how fun it is._

And Tet knows he has the power to do it.

But that left a different question, specifically in what way would he be willing to be evil?

 _I guess I could always be a false villain, someone who is intimidating and domineering but actually on the side of good._

He smiles at that, heart set.

"Just you wait, Remnant. A new God is in town."

There was some business to take care of first. Without **Gamer's Mind** , Draga was extremely vulnerable. He needed some way to deal with this. So far, none of them had mentally affecting skills, but that wasn't the only thing.

Here's a quick list of what **Gamer's Mind** had done.

 **Let him perceive during frozen time produced by someone else.**

 **Protected him from a ton of different nasty side effects.**

 **Saved his life on multiple occasions by allowing him to be calm during risky speeches or situations.**

 **Let him think of this list with a straight face.**

Alright, alright. It's not a whole lot, but each of those effects were more than anything else he had could do, and he needed to replace them, or at least the first two.

 _Well, the first can be supplemented with quick reaction time and **Tachyon** , I suppose._

And that left status effects. **Cleanse** was strong, now that he could actually use the damn thing, but it wouldn't work against anything that prevented him from casting it.

 _Wait... If they cast their things on an illusion of me, it does nothing. All I need is a physical illusion, then._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Neo._

Draga looks up at his massive bird for a moment before leaping up the entire mile to it's back.

 _Vale, here I come._

* * *

Vale was many things.

It was heavily guarded; it was well manned; furthermore, it was run by the greatest hunter known to man.

Unfortunately, nobody had ever encountered a Grimm with a level above 120.

"CAWWWW!"

The sound of it's cry was heard from miles away, although with it's size that was mere moments anyway.

True to it's name, it blackened the sky with it's approach, spreading fear and shock the populace of the kingdom.

However, unlike the alert which was send out over the communications system, Vale was not under attack. Surga circles around Vale just outside the relatively puny walls and mountains.

"Alright. Just keep doing that, I'll be back."

 _And I get to skydive again._

The air sails around him, his speed vastly enhanced both by time and by negating air resistance. There was another ability at work, though.

 **Tachyon**.

Everything was frozen in time, so he was effectively teleporting without the downside of not skydiving.

It was perfect.

What was slightly less perfect was the landing element. Without **Electrical Silhouette** , which was completely gone, Draga had no way to soften his landing.

He'd live, but whether the nearby houses would is the question.

They... Didn't.

Fortunately, Draga is able to lesson the blow by manipulating the shockwave to direct it upwards, resulting only new cracks on the homes... And a giant man shaped hole in the road.

He can't do everything, give him a break.

A question arose from his actions, though. As Cinder displayed, things that were frozen in time were basically unaffected by the basic principles of the normal force. Why didn't he keep going through the ground?

 _I suppose the techniques might be different. The skill was born from accelerating time, not freezing it, so the effects on time could affect things differently._

He wasn't really left with any other explanation, so he just accepts that one any moves on.

Still in frozen time, Draga shoots off towards the warehouse he'd seen previously. Even from the center of town, Draga could see 'Roman' working on something in his office.

 _Actually, since they have physicality, can't she run the entire organization by herself? It seems like that would be far easier than using actual labor, and you can't torture or bribe an illusion._

That led to the conclusion that there was some sort of drawback or limitation on it to prevent this. I mean, she was clearly smart enough to think of that on her own.

 _Drawbacks can be sorted out later._

Rather than bust another hole in the wall, Draga heads towards the dockside of the warehouse and, with a little air manipulation within the lock, opens the door without problem.

"I'm home."

Draga doesn't revert his appearance, but with his voice completely identical she gets the message, appearing before him. Another sign materializes next to her, a short sentence written on it.

"Welcome back. Get anything done?"

Draga shakes his head in apology.

"My bad. I had something to do."

She smiles and rolls her eyes, opening her mouth for the first time anyone but Roman had ever seen and lived to tell about it.

"I'm something."

That was the first thing she'd said in years...

In his surprise, Draga doesn't reply instantly, which gives him just enough time to process what she just said.

"Are... Are you hitting on me?"

She tilts her head briefly towards outside, where the sunlight shining through the windows was intermittently turning on and off. Rather than continue speaking, the sign takes over again.

"I took the liberty of investigating the moment the Nevermore appeared. I must say, I never expected it was you, but I know I saw your cloak atop that flying city of a bird. It's only logical to lure the next worlds superpower towards myself."

Draga raises an eyebrow at her.

"And you're telling me this why?"

"Well, I figured you'd pick up on it either way. Being honest is a good way to bypass a lot of problems."

Draga nods slightly, looking dubious as she turns to face him again.

"Alright. It doesn't really affect me either way, so I'll just skip to my reason for coming here."

He taps his head once.

"I need both a place to train, and someone who can produce physical illusions. When I fully introduce myself, I can guarantee there will be a fight. Can you do that."

With a simple nod, it was set.

"Then here's my plan."

* * *

Ozpin stood at the airstrips near Beacon, idly sipping at his coffee while watching the level 150 Nevermore circle Vale. He didn't seem particularly worried, but why wasn't something Draga could explain from stopped time.

"Hello, Ozpin."

Ozpin doesn't even turn to face him, still watching the majestic creature as it makes it's rounds. When he finally speaks, he holds out his free hand towards it as he could reach forward and grab it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

...

...

...

"Excuse me?"

Ozpin turns to face Draga, a eyebrow raised as he takes another sip.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize the beauty of being completely and overwhelmingly screwed."

Draga shakes his head rapidly, confusion evident in his stare.

"It's quite liberating to know you're 100% fucked."

He turns back to the open sky.

"I mean, there's no way you can become 101% fucked, right?"

Draga merely nods, following his gaze.

This is instantly ruined when Ozpin's free hand appears inside his chest, dispersing the illusion.

"Don't underestimate my observation skills. You won't live to regret it."

Draga laughs to himself as he steps out onto the deck with audible footsteps.

"You caught that subtle error. Well done."

Ozpin returns his hand to his side, taking another sip of his somehow still full cup of coffee.

 _Is it an everflowing chalice type thing?_

Ignoring that, Draga sets himself up in the same position as the illusion.

"So, Death. Your pet may be prepared for humanity, but are you?"

Standing confidently, Draga watches the Grimm follow the sense of fear and despair many are feeling as they watch Surga do it's job. This, of course, leads them to crashing themselves against the wall surrounding the city. Strangely, the ones that can fly don't just go over the wall to start attacking. Instead, they form a sort of herd behind what they likely interpret as their leader.

"Do I really need to be prepared for humanity?"

In reply, Ozpin attacks yet again, his hand cane appearing within Draga's heart and both lungs.

And then Draga's form explodes into a bunch of shards which, in turn, vanish into nothingness.

"Cause I did, and I would be very disappointed if it was all for not."

The REAL Draga steps up next to Ozpin, head turned in his direction.

"I suppose, but that won't be enough. You being alive means little when compared to the power of Grimm-."

He takes one last sip before glancing out towards a particularly large Nevermore. Without any indication of him doing something, it just falls from the sky with it's body turning to smoke during the descent.

"-and we can handle a little Grimm."

Draga smiles, looking out towards the vast fields of Grimm just outside the relatively puny walls of Vale.

"I can handle a lot of Grimm."

After a minor delay, every single Grimm within Draga's vast vision range- except Surga of course- suddenly does a u-turn and sprints, flies, or swims away from Vale at full speed.

"So, how can I be of service?"

For the first time since Draga met him, Ozpin was actually taken aback by something.

"You want to help?"

Draga chuckles for a moment, to which Ozpin is obviously suspicious, but his worries are abated afterwards.

"Please, what do you take me for? I want to be entertained, and even if I was doomed from the get go, Surga could just flatten the city in seconds. Where's the fun in that?"

Ozpin mulls over that for a moment before nodding.

"Well, stopping the city wide panic would be a good st-. What are you doing?"

Draga smiles back at Ozpin as he leaps into the air off the airstrip. Before he crashes into the ground, Nevva floats up out of the ground far below and moves to catch him.

 _This is gonna be fun._

Floating up to a spot just above the center of town, Draga gets literally everyone's attention.

How you may ask?

By glowing with the light of a thousand suns.

Okay, not really, but when it's a omnidirectional light burst that would blind people within 30m of him, it's good enough.

Once it's over and his vision recovers, Draga enters step two.

Triggering **White Tiger's Roar** and using his air affinity to buff his volume even further, Draga speaks to the city as a whole.

 **"Greetings, people of Vale. My name is Daebyeol, or as you probably know me, Death. However, I am not here to kill you. I have the power to control the Grimm, and am here to aid Vale in whatever ways I can."**

As he can easily tell with his absurd sensory abilities, everyone was still fearful and suspicious of him.

 **"I have already dismissed the legions of Grimm that accumulated outside the walls of this fine city. This will continue for so long as I am here. Any complaints will be directed to my enormous colleague. Any questions?"**

When you ask a population the size of a city for questions, even just 0.1% of them answering would be way too many, but he was a bit of a dickhead anyway.

 **"Alright, good. Bye, everyone."**

Under the mask of **Tachyon** , Draga, Nevva, and even Surga all vanish from sight. Unfortunately, due to mana, and thereby time, constraints, Surga is forced to hide as a new mountain within a nearby mountain range rather than seep into the forest outside the walls.

Of course, Nevva was in the ground.

Where was Draga during this, you might ask?

He was meditating atop the CCT tower of beacon.

* * *

 **"Hello again, Draga. I must say, I didn't expect Jaune to defeat Gilgamesh."**

Draga doesn't even acknowledge what he says, merely watching him.

 **"Right... You wanted training in your Grimm powers. You completed your end of the deal, so I'll give you exactly 1 skill. Have fun with it."  
**

Malkuth doesn't elaborate on it before he fades away, leading Draga to believe he didn't need to.

 _Alright then. What do you have in store for me?_ _  
_

Returning to the real world, the anticipation was fairly overwhelming.

* * *

Before sensations have even returned to him, someone speaks to him.

"Hello, Draga."

Draga opens his eyes and looks up at the source of the voice.

"Hello, Babel."

* * *

 **Ah... I hope I met your expectations. Message me or review with questions, but most will be addressed within the next 1-2 chapters.**

 **Here you go, Draga/Babel's profile.**

 **Name: Babel Menara**

 **Class: Arcane Specter**

 **Title: The Grimm God**

 **Level: LVL61**

 **HP: 1**

 **MP: 280032  
**

 **Str: 111(1415.5)**

 **Vit: 55(1415.5)**

 **Dex: 19(1415.5)**

 **Int: 100(430)**

 **Wis: 50(430)**

 **Luk: 50**

 **Points: 130  
**

 **Height: 6'6"**

 **Weight: 248 lb.**

 **Money: 0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVLMAX EXP MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 200**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0 (DR)**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:50, 50 per second**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0 (VIT)**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **Elemental Presence (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:500, 500 per minute**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVLMAX MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:5000, 500 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP: 50, 50 per 3 seconds**

 **Langit Sanjata (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Fantasy (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Breath of the World (Active & Passive) LVL14 EXP: 74.27% MP:0**

 **HP can be improved through meditation. (770)**

 **MP can be improved through meditation. (900)**

 **The user may meditate while physically active, so long as all actions taken remain simple.**

 **This skill deactivates immediately if the user is distracted or takes complex actions.**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL8 EXP: 92.00% MP:9200**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 90.00%% MP:10000**

 **The Blind Fist (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100**

 **Stampede (Active) LVLMAX MP: 100, 100 per second**

 **White Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL3 EXP: 8.15% 98, 25 per second.**

 **The foot technique developed by the Beast King Bai Hu.**

 **Passively increases movement speed by 12%.**

 **Increases movement speed by 58% when active.**

 **Claws of the White Tiger (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100, 100 per minute**

 **White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50**

 **White Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:750**

 **White Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 500, 500 per second**

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL8 EXP: 59.15%**

 **The inborn ability to perceive the world through the broad senses of the mind, rather than the limited ones of the body. Takes many forms dependent on the mentality and natural abilities of the user, but can grow with time and training.**

 **Expands Clairvoyance to encompass low levels of Clairaudience, Clairalience, Clairsentience, and Clairgustance. Improve by increasing level and INT.**

 **Clairsentience allows touch-range abilities may be used at a range of 5.35 meters.**

 **Other abilities will be unlocked with higher levels.**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable**

 **Fire (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL18 EXP: 14.42% MP:91, 91 per second**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Giant's Strength (Passive) LVLMAX Stack: 1 MP:100, 100 per second**

 **Osteo (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Air (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Current total affinity: 100**

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Aureola (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00%**

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL8 EXP: 0.00% MP: 96000**

 **Trample (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0**

 **Magic Coating (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Lightning Release (Active) LVL4 EXP: 96.51% MP:Variable**

 **Call of the Storm (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000 per second**

 **Panen (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Life exists because of the sun, and death because of life. Unknown to most is the fourth piece in the chain: Panen, or growth**

 **Increases physical stats by the combination of other physical stats (Does not stack with itself).**

 **Increases physical stats growth rate by 100%.**

 **Grimm (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Grimm are a self-sustaining species. As a Grimm, it has now become your job.**

 **Summons a Grimm of a chosen species with a level based on mana spent.**

 **HP can be spent instead of MP to summon a Grimm.**

 **Minimum levels exist for all species except Beowulf's.**

 **Currently available species: Beowulf, Nevermore, Goliath, and Geist.**

 **Sliding Mastery (Passive) LVL21 EXP: 13.74% MP:0**

 **Streamlined (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 64.32% MP:0**

 **Equipment**

 **Main-Hand: Lunar Assault Blade - A powerful blade designed by Mesan with the express purpose of killing everything that crosses it's path. While powered, the blade is capable of a number of special attacks using plasma. Otherwise it is a heavy-bladed weapon intended to cleave or impale enemies.**

 **Ring 1: Kembar - A ring found in the Enchanted Cave. The ring does nothing without someone wielding another nearby.**

 **Necklace: Tower Of Babel - A necklace, previously owned and empowered by a man named Babel, that has been infused with the soul of its wearer and became an alternative to their spirit rather than a supplement. Acts as an independent MP tank for the one who's soul it is bounded to. Current binding: Babel Menara. Current MP total: ?.  
**

 **Mask: Setan - Prevents people from remembering you without extended exposure. +20 DR, +20 Int, +20 Wis, +20 Str, +20 Dex, +20 Vit, and -20 Luk if Hokori.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Grimm Affliction [MAX]**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**


	33. Power-6 (Permulaan)

"Hello, Draga."

Draga opens his eyes and looks up at the source of the voice.

"Hello, Babel."

Okay, that wasn't quite fair; both of them had this above their head.

 **[LVL61]**

 **Babel Menara, The Grimm God  
**

The lack of differences didn't stop there either. The second person had exactly the same form, equipment, and everything else.

Actually, there was only one thing different about them from Draga at any point in the last half hour.

Neither of them had shadows.

 _So the new ability is a clone technique using my shadow but since I had two souls the other one took up residence?_

Unlike most of his assumptions, this one was backed by quite the range of evidence. It wasn't exactly guaranteed, but nothing was in this messed up universe. It didn't help that no notification or new skill showed up to provide insight on it.

Draga was pulled back to what he assumed was reality by a belated reply.

"Quite the place you got here."

Babel turns back to the city of Vale, admiring the scenery with a watchful gaze.

"Indeed."

Draga stands up to follow his clones eyes.

"Are you another me, or are you someone else?"

Babel smirks, glancing back at him for a moment.

"I suppose I'm both."

He doesn't elaborate, which causes Draga's eyebrow to twitch with irritation.

"Do you remember being Babel?"

He shakes his head somberly, oddly calm about it.

"I remember being Babel, but I can't get anything specific. It's like I remember my body and my thoughts, but I remember nothing I did."

He turns to face Draga properly, his eyes questioning even before his lips do.

"I died... Didn't I?"

Draga merely nods, to which Babel looks down.

"I guess that means I was wrong."

He reaches towards his necklace and tears it off, holding it over the edge of the CCT tower's roof. Various thoughts rush through his head before he hurls it forward and into the distance.

This all takes place is the span of a few seconds, Draga being too stunned by what he was saying and doing to stop him.

"What are you doing!? That was the most powerful item I've found this whole time!"

Babel hangs his head as he turns back to Draga.

"I didn't want to live forever."

With that final statement, Babel triggers **Tachyon** and vanishes from his location without even the pickup of the dust settled upon the barren rooftop.

 _What kind of person doesn't want to live forever? There's an omniverse, so there's literally infinite content for you to enjoy._

He shakes his head to alleviate the thoughts; Babel was clearly out of his mind.

It just didn't seem natural to Draga that living forever would be bad, especially for someone who was essentially chosen to personify magic.

Speaking of magic...

He suddenly had a lot more.

That begged the question, what was the best he could do now?

 _Well, I know the older scale is 1.2 per level, so the Nevermore base cost is 10. With the new 1.15 value... I can summon level 74's without dying._

That wasn't exactly safe, though, as it would leave him with basically no mana, which was his new HP.

Always gotta be prepared for a gank.

 _Level 70 it is._

Draga leaps off of the CCT tower, landing gracefully on the ground.

How you might ask?

Well, when messing around with his level 100 air affinity on the long way down, he got a fantastic new addition to his 'not breaking everything' category of skills.

 **Feather Falling (Active) LVL4 EXP: 0.65% MP:96, 96 per second  
**

 **The ability to condense and move the air around you to stop yourself from heavy impacts.**

 **Actively makes you impact scenery as if you were moving 1% of the speed you were.**

It wasn't a surefire way to avoid blowing through buildings, but at this point any attack that could blow him through said building would likely be an instant kill anyway.

A question did arise, however. What counted as scenery? Technically, everything was part of a scene, and while the characters were surely excused due to game mechanics, what about stuff like vehicles?

 _And there's no way to test it..._

So many of his abilities were vague at best.

 _At least I can always rely on lightning._

Speaking of bright lights, there was a little illusionist he had to visit.

* * *

 _I suppose boredom is better than regret._

Neo had basically ordered that her reward be that he 'lived' in the same building, although it honestly meant little since he'd visited his own room all of twice. Trying to figure out her reasoning was a hopeless cause, although it likely included a little bit of missed expectations.

Like Draga needing to sleep, for example.

It had been well over 4 hours already, all of which were spent with the little guttersnipe in her living room with a collection of board games.

Even in his home world, and even having the advantage in most games beyond sheer intelligence, Neo had yet to lose a single game. If it wasn't for her actually beating him at chess while she was black, he'd be suspecting cheating, but he knew she wasn't pulling sleight of hand because of his broken as hell visual prowess.

 _But it can't see through her illusions..._

Truly, Draga had given up beating Neopolitan, as she said her full name was, ages ago; there really was no point in beating someone who is both obviously competent at the games within her house, which was rather spacious and well accommodated- _besides the damn couch..._ \- by the way, and capable of cheating on a moments notice with no way to prove she did it or penalize her if she did.

With a sigh, Draga hands over the remainder of his monopoly money to the smiling little dipstick before him.

"You win. Can I go now?"

She waves a finger as if to say 'the night is young', although that does pop up on the signboard that she'd had materialized over her head the entire time as well.

 _Man... Really questioning if this was worth a little extra points to my reputation with Ozpin..._

Speaking of Ozpin, Draga had plenty of time to think about their interaction while he was being beaten 6 ways to Sunday at his own prized activity.

The main thing Draga focused on in all of that was whether Ozpin would allow his continues stay at Beacon. He wasn't really learning anything at the school, but the students and library were both invaluable to the infinitely many plans he'd come up with.

Okay, infinitely many plans was definitely hyperbole. With how much attention was sucked up both by trying futilely to beat Neo and by trying equally as uselessly to predict Ozpin's thoughts, he had little to devise any complex schemes.

 _Is this what they call anxiety?_

He shakes his head to free his thoughts, standing up from the game since it was over. Despite Neo's none-verbal demands, Draga makes his way to the door.

"Sorry, kit. I have some things to check on."

She lets out an audible sigh, but doesn't stop him on his way out.

* * *

 _Beacon is really quiet for having just witnessed Death._

Ozpin sat in his office idly drinking from his coffee mug, refilling it in a way the other occupant of the room was unable to notice, but he was able to confirm that it wasn't just filling itself; all of it's refills were sudden and filled it instantly.

"Hello, Draga."

Ozpin watches Draga nod and take a seat in front of his desk, apparently bored out of his mind.

"May I ask why you are here?"

Draga nods, although the slowness of it and the evident confusion on his face is suspicious.

"I merely wanted to check in, I am missing some crucial information after all. For instance, when is the Vytal festival?"

Ozpin narrows his eyes, surveying him slowly. He had seen Death in person, and was already lead to believe it was Draga by the idiot not having changed his voice, but that was itself a problem. It wasn't exactly enough to confirm Draga was Death just off the voice since semblances to cast illusions or change people's physical form were so common and voice changing even more so.

 _I guess common isn't exactly the right word. Perhaps frequent?_

Common would suggest semblances had some kind of predictable quality, but with the exception of the Schnee family no such thing existed. Children of hunters could carry some traits, like Jaune's acquisition of the psychokinesis while his father had telekinesis, but it was rare for that to happen, much less identical abilities.

Even if you ignored the fairly significant differences, common meant it was fairly normal to have it, but nothing about semblances was normal.

 _Man, I am rambling today._

In his thoughts, he'd missed the last thing Draga said, but since he wasn't expectant at Ozpin making him wait it likely wasn't important.

"Checking in, huh? Well, the schedule for the Vytal festival isn't out yet. It will be released to all students in a few months when it happens."

He pauses for a moment to take another sip of his delicious brew.

"Why the sudden interest?"

He seems to mull over that for a second before coming up with a satisfying reply.

"I heard from the rest of the students that it would be held here and, as a freshman, I have yet to participate. Call it excitement or anticipation- what have you?"

Ozpin nods, not even bothering to unpack the clearly bullshit sentence. Unfortunately, the way it was set up was basically impossible to prove false even if you already knew it was.

With a bored expression, Ozpin rubs some dirt from his eye.

"I suppose. Well, be off then."

Draga follows his direction, standing up to make his way out.

And then Draga pulls a page from his own book and vanishes from his spot to someplace outside.

 _Trust in the all seeing eye._

* * *

Speaking of all seeing eyes, Draga was actually surprised by the level of detail he completely overlooked about the classes, particularly the previously viewed as caffeine-high teacher. His rapid pace was what he interpreted as normal, which his absurd workload (not that it mattered much to someone who could do have a significantly more enhanced time rate) was based off of.

That wasn't the interesting part.

The interesting part was the level of work the man clearly put into grading everything. Forty-six students and 10 papers a day each and he could see, even from the courtyard, the frankly preposterous effort his teacher put into grading.

Every single paper had edits all over the place, with exactly two exceptions: Jaune's and Draga's papers.

Or, mostly two exceptions. Draga hadn't bothered to turn in the last assignment, having been far too busy slaughtering Grimm and being essentially kidnapped by a dormant archangel.

Speaking of which, would Mal be able to solve his problem if Jaune was dead? Keter supposedly resided within him, so would he die with Jaune or would he be released?

Draga rubs his temples in a futile attempt to alleviate a little of the encroaching headache. This continues just long enough for Draga to remember he has a skill to get rid of them and then to use it a few times.

 _Best. Ability. Ever._

Okay, **Cleanse** isn't really, but you'd be surprised how much permanent headaches would impact your life.

The effect eased away, allowing Draga to turn his attention back to the school. Most of the people were asleep or milling about their own rooms with one exception that, even at his power level, he wasn't going to fuck around with.

The ability to freeze all of time at will was broken enough without adding in that he still couldn't see her level.

Fortunately, with the information he had now, Draga was able to conclude that Cinder was possessed by a Rider named Famine.

Since he was also called Death before he even chose the name, it was fairly safe to say the Riders were named after the four riders of the Apocalypse, leaving War and Pestilence as the remaining Riders.

After a moment, Draga freezes with a specific Hunter in his focus.

 **[LVL64]**

 **Ruby Rose, The Red Rider**

That was her title before, too. It could allude to her theme of red and her speed semblance, but that would be a really stupid way to describe it.

Or, you know, it could relate to War (The specific rider was an assumption based on the color, but it really didn't matter all that much).

Draga examines her thoroughly, much the same way he did to Cinder all those... Days ago, and, to his surprise, finds almost nothing particularly odd. She seemed to be suffering from hemochromatosis, or elevated iron in the blood, but that wasn't gonna hurt her any. A single glance revealed far worse conditions even just among her group, like Blake who was currently suffering from extreme exhaustion, aura depletion, and a stress induced nightmare.

 _You know, it's kind of creepy to know more about her than the team seems to. Even just knowing them from vague sensory input as he focuses on other things, I've seen how they react to problems._

Just before Draga goes to move away, he realizes something that was less than normal...

The iron in Ruby's blood was a vibrant red.

That, in and of itself, wasn't too bizarre, but the problem stemmed from the vibrant part. Rust or similar effects could be predicted, but vibrant red was not the color of rust or blood.

So... What the hell was it?

 _It could always just be some painted metal. Her weapon is almost bright enough._

Almost was the key word, though.

And then, like a truck, it hits him.

 _The Rider's take over someones body from within. Famine clearly exists within that black crystal embedded within Cinder, so that one was easy. Famine described Grim by that name, implying that there is a fifth rider in his place, but I know how he takes over. That leaves Death and War, and the only out of place thing in her entire body is the metal._

Three down, two to go.

 _Alright... Who else could be a Rider?_

Draga looks back to his first encounter in this world and pushes through to now, remembering literally anything out of place.

Unfortunately, he only finds a fourth rider.

 _Hello again, Jaune._

For the fight, Jaune grew Grimm armor. If that wasn't evidence enough, there was a completely black (You know, the main color of Grimm) bacteria floating around his entire body that wasn't doing anything- not even attacking the nearby cells.

 _Pestilence located, but no sign of Death._

Problem was, with his perceptions limited despite his completely ridiculous sensory ability, he couldn't just examine everyone all the time unless he wanted his brain to have a sensory overload.

As such, he didn't even have an entire body scan on everyone in the school.

Ugh, nooblet; everyone has flawless duplicate of their entire school stored within their mind.

Draga shakes his head with a tiny smile poking at the edge of his mouth.

 _I guess I have some work then. The ability said leveling it and increasing Int increased the power of the ability._

Speaking of increasing Int, Draga had 130 points from the Grimm slaying he'd yet to spend.

 _Well, there goes most of them._

 **By increasing Int to 150 the skill [Magic Mastery] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing Int to 150 the skill [Mana Burn] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing Int to 150 the skill [Abyss] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing Int to 200 the skill [Magic Mastery] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing Int to 200 the skill [Mana Drain] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing Int to 200 the skill [Greater Mana Capacity] has been unlocked!**

 **By increasing Int to 200 the skill [Divided Gaze** **] has been unlocked!**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:4 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Mana Burn (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Magic is naturally unstable and seeks to destroy or dissolve anything in its quest for perfect entropy. While normal people stop this effect, there's no reason you can't use it yourself.**

 **Deals 1% of the mana spent as damage to target on contact.**

 **Does not inflict knockback or structural damage.**

 **Abyss (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000000**

 **The Abyss is a realm of nothingness, but everything was born from nothing. Acquiring items or energy from nothing must then allow you to attain everything, yes?**

 **Reach into the Abyss and pull out something. The item or energy acquired is random, but the closeness to what you are looking for can be increased with Int and skill level.**

 **Mana Drain (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Mana exists within all natural things, but that also means it can be taken from all natural things.**

 **Actively drains 1 MP per second from all applicable things within contact.**

 **Greater Mana Capacity (Passive)**

 **I'm not going into full detail for everything, Draga. Shut up and be glad you're getting a skill like this at all.**

 **Int now creates 100 MP each.**

 **Increases MP by 100%.**

 **Divided Gaze (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Vision and attention are purely human constructs, so why would such a thing apply to magic or a soul?**

 **Actively allows you to lose vision in an eye in exchange for the vision of someone elses, though all bonuses to your vision apply.**

 **Actively allows full attention per eye, but doubles the MP cost.**

 **Costs 1 MP per m away the new eye is per second.**

It was quite the list, but most of it could be summarized fairly easily. I have more mana/regen, I can steal mana, I can hurt with mana, and I can gain the perspective location of others for mana.

Abyss was different.

 _What did it mean to have something truly random, and is it random if some things can tilt the odds?_

Well, it's not like it meant much whether it was random. In fact, if it wasn't, all the better for him.

The real question was much simpler.

 _How easy is this gonna be to abuse?_

The rest of the stuff was evidently powerful and trivial to get into his playstyle, but the usefulness of the ability was yet to be proven. Being able to do the whole magic satchel and pull literally anything he wanted out of his ass would be the most OP ability he'd acquired, possibly beaten by Aureola if not for the fact that Abyss might be able to give him skills like it.

 _GAH!_

Rather than mull it over and drive himself mad, he just uses it.

And he instantly confirms that the ability is fucking bullshit.

A skillbook, or what the game considered one anyway, appeared in his hand with exactly what skill he was thinking of.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [Gamer's Mind]!**

 **Would you like to learn this skill?**

 **Y/N**

I think you can imagine what he did at that moment.

He laughed maniacally as he didn't press the button.

Hey, he might have wanted the skill, but a whole lot of awesome things can't be properly enjoyed with it active.

 _This... This is the most overpowered shit I have ever found._

And it really was.

Guess what he'd be doing for the next age and a half instead of going to school.

* * *

It was actually hard to walk around Beacon now, what with his completely preposterous Str and Dex. He'd decided against skipping, but he'd used the skill multiple times to acquire various books, and only one of them actually failed, giving him a book about some guy named... Naruto? Was that how you were supposed to pronounce it?

Eh. That didn't matter much. After all, he was retarded broken now.

 _I can't imagine anything posing a challenge now, though._

That was a significant issue. What was the point of being all powerful if you couldn't even entertain yourself? Abyss gave him basically everything he wanted, ranging from new skills to getting that final installment of his favorite book series.

YES! He was still reading that, and nothing was going to stop him.

Books were a way to entertain himself, which was nice, but there was only so much reading a person could do.

It's then that he finally understood something, specifically about Babel.

 _This is why he didn't want to live forever._

Draga looks down for a moment, noting that his shadow was back, implying that Babel was dead. How, he honestly had no idea.

 _Is this... Is this what I want in life? Just to exist? I could always be an asshole, but that isn't something I can do forever, nor is it something I would particularly enjoy._

In a distant land, someone by the name of Valkyr sneezes.

Draga sighs, looking out into the distance. Despite being on campus, the cliffside view gave him plenty of scenery to admire even without his 360 degree omnivision.

 _Is this truly what man truly sought after since the dawn of time?_

Acquiring power and living longer was the primary goal of modern humanity at the very least, but would a life of complete domination truly bring anyone happiness?

He... Didn't know.

Scratching the his head with a free hand, Draga concludes that the school wasn't for him. Even with the library and students, he had Abyss.

 _At least there is someone who can beat me at chess._

Before he would visit, though, he had a ton of skills to get. Some were to prevent cheating, obviously, but most of them are because he's a greedy bastard.

Give him a break, okay. It's not everyday the gods give you infinite power.

* * *

Draga coughs once as he appears within Neo's house, clearly realizing that his teleportation was silent. By this time, so many skills had been unlocked that trying to list them in a chapter would fill the entire chapter.

"Welcome back."

It wasn't Neo.

Hey, at least it was someone he recognized.

"Hello Ozpin."

Ozpin smiles, but it wasn't his typical reserved though genuine smile.

It was a smile of malice.

"Oh so great God Of Grimm, do you hate your life now?"

Draga raises an eyebrow and replies as you would expect.

"Not particularly, why do you ask?"

Ozpin shrugs to emphasize the casualness of his next statement.

"It would suck be hateful in the end."

 _Fan-fucking-tastic. Well, I didn't wanna have to do anything to you._

The world becomes alight in a massive explosion which melts the entire building around them, visible killing Ozpin easily.

"Such a shame."

Draga looks around at the wasteland around him, a smile flickering for just a moment.

* * *

Draga coughs once as he appears within Neo's house, clearly realizing that his teleportation was silent. By this time, so many skills had been unlocked that trying to list them in a chapter would fill the entire chapter.

"Welcome back."

It wasn't Neo.

Hey, at least it was someone he recognized.

"Hello Ozpin."

Ozpin smiles, though it wasn't his typical reserved but genuine smile.

It was a smile of malice.

"You are going to regret that, oh so great God Of Grimm."

* * *

 **Ah, I can see the questions now. I suppose I could answer them now instead of in the finale, but what would be the fun in that?**

 **Tootles.**

 **Oh, crap, I should probably mention that his profile is honestly pointless. He spent quite some time getting skills before visiting Neo's home, so his skills and stats are basically all maxed.**

 **His fighting is not going to be the point, trust me.**

 **As such, I won't bother listing anything besides this one line.**

 **Name: Tapa Konungur**

 **By the way, Draga's name breaks from the norm. Try using Icelandic to translate it rather than the normal language, if any of you are actually bothering to figure out my Easter Eggs.**


	34. Power-7 (Tamat)

**God, guys. I am so sorry that this chapter wasn't out like 3 days ago. I was unable to write out the last 700 or so words due to other obligations... I feel like a dick, now. I set up a climactic battle and made you guys wait so long for it, compared to normal. Well, guess who is gonna have a good bajillion words for you by this time tomorrow?**

 **This guy.**

 **I have an extra 7 hours to work on it today, after all.**

 **Alright, alright. I won't hold you back from my latest chimera of ideas any longer.**

 **Happy hunting.**

* * *

Draga coughs once as he appears within Neo's house, clearly realizing that his teleportation was silent. By this time, so many skills had been unlocked that trying to list them in a chapter would fill the entire chapter.

"Welcome back."

It wasn't Neo.

Hey, at least it was someone he recognized.

"Hello Ozpin."

Ozpin smiles, though it wasn't his typical reserved but genuine smile.

It was a smile of malice.

"You are going to regret that."

Draga is confused for a moment since he hadn't done anything.

"Regret what, exactly?"

Ozpin laughs with his eyes closed in a mocking way for a moment.

"You don't remember."

 _It's not a question, it's a statement._

Ozpin attacks, but Draga does two things in that moment.

1, he turns the entire building to dust.

And 2...

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.**

He was back in action.

* * *

Draga coughs once as he appears within Neo's house, clearly realizing that his teleportation was silent. By this time, so many skills had been unlocked that trying to list them in a chapter would fill the entire chapter.

"Welcome back."

It wasn't Neo.

Hey, at least it was someone he recognized.

"Hello Ozpin."

Ozpin smiles, though it wasn't his typical reserved but genuine smile.

It was a smile of malice.

"We'll be in this judgement hall forever."

Draga quirks an eyebrow at the old man, clearly confused, but that face is replaced a moment later by one of recognition.

"I suppose so, Ozpin."

Ozpin raises his hand as if to take a sip from his mug, but he only realizes he doesn't have it at that moment. He seems surprised for a moment before letting his arm return to his side.

"Huh. I suppose if you're not going to kill me, we could always have a little chat."

Draga shrugs, signally a sort of detachment.

"Feel free."

Ozpin takes a seat in the couch in front of him, a smile on his face.

"Fabulous. I suppose I have no need to tell you how doomed your plan is."

Draga mimics his expression, smug confidence.

"Nope."

The room explodes in a vibrant show of destruction magic a final time.

* * *

Draga appears within Neo's house, his eyes searching for the still missing Ozpin.

 _There he is._

Ozpin walks into the room, an annoyed glower marring his otherwise coordinated form.

"That was rude."

Draga's smirk returns.

"I suppose you're right."

Ozpin vanishes from place, appearing directly in front of Draga with a kick already landing in his gut.

Of course, there was a little underestimation involved, since it didn't break his skin.

Nope. It sent him flying outside instead.

With a thought command, wings burst from Draga's back and pull him into a stable enough location to launch his return attack: smiting the house with the energy within the clouds already brewing above.

Just before impact, Draga hears Ozpin make a single movement.

He snaps.

And then the house explodes.

* * *

Draga looks around confused. He was in the air still, and the clouds were rumbling around them above.

 _What?_

He's unable to think it through as Ozpin slams a devastatingly powerful blow into his shoulder with his cane before following it up with another kick, this time to his spine.

 _What the hell is he doing?_

Draga replies as one would expect: by blowing the motherfucker to pieces.

BOOOOOOM!

* * *

Ozpin repeats the earlier combo on Draga before he even gets a chance to react, a finger snapping slightly before Draga's instinct to blow the bastard away kicks in.

* * *

Being blown away without pain of being hit by anything was an odd sensation, I suppose, but a lot less odd when you consider it was at least knocking him away from the person who caused it.

 _What the hell is he doing? Rewinding time whenever he dies?_

He doesn't get a chance to ask before Ozpin slams the tip of his cane into Draga, something that doesn't seem to do a whole lot.

And then, because of his enhanced perceptions, Draga see's what he did.

He wasn't traveling through time anymore.

Which means he wouldn't regenerate anything.

Which means he would lose if the fight went on forever.

 _TET! GET YOUR SHIT IN GEAR! IF YOU ARE GONNA GIVE ME THIS CRAP IN EXCHANGE FOR ABYSS, TAKE IT THE FUCK BACK!_

His pleas are left alone as Ozpin snaps again, shortly followed by his obliteration by white lightning.

* * *

 _Good news, my mana comes back when the time resets._

That left him two options, really: try and get **Mana Drain** up to snuff and just sustain the fight out forever or somehow escape his time control.

Honestly, neither looked plausible.

"You done?"

It was rhetorical, apparently, as Ozpin was already smashing Draga into the ground before the second syllable finished.

 _Yes, you lunatic._

Draga tests out the new mana drain skill, since he lacks anything better to do, when he slams his knee into the old mans face.

* * *

 _You're kidding me! How is he this vulnerable? This is supposed to be the strongest hunter ever!_

He doesn't get to answer this before Ozpin copies Draga's own attack and shatters his mask with his leg. That's not the end, however, as Ozpin grips the back of Draga's recoiling head to crush it into his followup kick.

Ignoring the pain, Draga blasts what someone who didn't understand the difference between destruction magic and elemental magic would call lightning at the man just prior to him finishing his snap.

* * *

"Stop."

Ozpin seems to oblige, simply hovering in front of him. He seemed calm, which likely means he knew that Draga's mana was still draining away due to the lack of regen.

"Why are you doing this?"

Ozpin smirks, gesturing to the world around him.

"Much the same reason you are, I suppose. It's not everyday someone can truly entertain me."

Leaving that cryptic message behind, Ozpin snaps while vanishing once more. Unlike normal, Ozpin doesn't land an attack at the exact moment he disappeared, leading Draga to search for him in the city below with his perceptions.

It's around this moment that he realizes just what Ozpin was doing, or rather had been doing the entire time.

Nothing down below was moving, meaning time was stopped. A key difference in this, however, was that Draga wasn't able to see Ozpin when he was abusing it in the same manner Draga did with **Tachyon**.

 _So, what is he doing? Accelerating himself in the same manner as my own skill while simultaneously stopping time?_

He's pulled from his rambling thoughts by two arms slamming into his back and propelling him into and through the ground below despite **Feather Fall** being active.

 _Oh for-._

He doesn't bother finishing the thought, since it was going to be interrupted by the time skip of Ozpin's death mere instants later by a blade through his skull.

* * *

"I suppose I should explain myself, no?"

Draga's narrowed eyes displays his annoyance, but the information might help so he doesn't stop him.

"Entertainment, the very thing you crave even now as you slaughter me over and over again, is the reason the universes even exist. Unfortunately, time is the bane of all things even relating to it, so imagine my luck when I essentially become a god of time."

He throws a kick Draga's way in real time, something the bullshit Gamer easily dodges.

"I am the oldest thing in this world-."

Ozpin does a quick combo which meets the same fate as the last attack, although it's clear the attacks aren't meant to be taken seriously.

"... and I have run out of things to occupy my limitless time."

Ozpin smiles, seeming to just stand on the air rather than the bobbing float he was doing previously.

"Here we are again, just me and you-."

He stops since the message has been made clear, at least to the game.

 **Background Music enabled - Stronger Than You, Chara**

 _And that means he knows about the game..._

Ozpin knowing about the game didn't change much, especially considering the overwhelming force Draga was in comparison to his opponent, but it was intimidating none the less. Excluding Mesan, who was dead, and the pair he first met in the Enchanted Cave, nobody should have any knowledge that he was a Gamer. There was a chance Jaune did, since Draga's own **Observe** told him of Jaune's Gamer status, but there was no way to know.

None of that explained him knowing, however.

Draga shakes his head to clear his thoughts, but Ozpin takes advantage of this by using the momentum to snap Draga's neck.

Of course, you all know how that song and dance goes.

 _Die._

* * *

 _Hey, the music didn't rewind!_

Ozpin clicks his tongue at Draga, clearly scolding him for his actions one life prior.

"That wasn't very nice."

"Like you're one to talk."

He shrugs, lifting his empty hand for another sip. He realizes it quicker this time, the hand returning before it was even halfway raised, but his expression gave it away.

 _That's important._

Ozpin could have played it off as him messing with Draga's head with a metaphysical coffee glass, but, with what he'd seen of it before the fight, there was no way he'd believe that now.

 _Unfortunately, just knowing something is important doesn't help..._

In search of answers, Draga turns his attention to the cityscape beneath them. The Beacon mug Ozpin carried was drinking from literally all the time had to be somewhere.

"Come now, Draga. Surely you won't just let me sit here until you run out of mana."

It was a taunt, something to add to the list of things he didn't think Ozpin would do that had been proven wrong this fight.

"The lord or time is impatient?"

His ironic musing aside, Draga located it. Ozpin should have known where it was, actually, since it was sitting in an unlocked drawer of his desk. Without a moment wasted, Draga warps into the room.

* * *

"Did... Did you just kill yourself?"

Ozpin smirks, looking at Draga smugly.

"I am, as you said, the lord of time. Why would I care about such things? Even if I never used my ability until the end of time, I would simply be sent back here all over again."

He looks down, clearly in thought for a moment.

"Kind of makes you lose any MOTIVATION!"

To emphasize the last word, Ozpin slams his cane into Draga's temple, snapping once the contact is made with the other hand.

Smart of him since it wasn't even a moment later when fire consumed Ozpin's body.

* * *

"You don't know when to give up, do you?"

Draga smiles up at him in defiance.

"What's this strange term you are using? Never heard of it."

Adding to his defiance when, a moment later, Ozpin's mug appears in his hands.

 ** _Tachyon_** _works... Good to know._

Unfortunately, with his still limited mana reserves that he didn't bother increasing with stuff from **Abyss** , he was gonna be limited in its use.

Of course, taking Ozpins immediate reaction to try and take the mug from him by using what is essentially the same technique, Draga confirms that it was worth it. With the mug still in hand, Draga is able to draw several conclusions from that information.

 _There has to be a limit to his time control or he'd just spend forever prying my hand open for it. Besides that, he must clearly want it for some reason._

He closes his eyes and smirks.

 _Bottoms up._

Draga downs the entire mug, something that confuses him for a moment before the effects actually hit him.

* * *

"Hey Draga."

The Gamer in question shakes his head, relieving himself of his daze.

"Hey, Sora."

After taking a moment to absorb his surroundings the natural way, he turns his attention to the man in front of them. Sora was the same as always, even going so far as to wear his "I (There is no way to type the heart, it deletes the less than sign) Imanity" t-shirt.

Slightly past him is the throne, revealing where they were. Shiro wasn't there, which was odd, but it was something he'd seen before. After a few months with Draga, the pair had managed to increase the distance and time they can be separated with breaking down.

Draga turns his focus back to the card game in front of them. It takes a moment, but he realizes it's the competitive solitaire they came up with.

"You spaced out, there. You alright?"

Draga nods, picking up where he clearly left off.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I had the strangest daydream, though."

Sora raises an eyebrow with a coy smile.

"Strangest daydream, huh? What was it about?"

Sora takes his turn, obviously ahead based on his K-7 stack.

"I... I gained superpowers. It was like I was a character in that ERPG that Fiel made me play a while back. The game itself wasn't bad, but it was horribly balanced."

Sora nods, obviously getting where he was coming from.

"I get yah. Hey, how-."

He stops his eyes looking down at Draga's side where he just pulled the luckiest draw imaginable. It made Sora's lead of an more than a half stack vanish completely.

Sora's left eye twitches a few times while he levels an annoyed glare at Draga. Draga didn't win very often against him thanks to his own skill and forethought, but there was actual randomness in their games.

Nothing that obeyed physics could be random which is why magic was used to shuffle their decks for anything casual between members of Blank.

Draga returns Sora's earlier coy smile, obviously gloating at his fortune.

"Something wrong, Sora? Steph got your tongue?"

Sora lets out a sigh while his smile returns, looking up confidently at Draga once it was over.

"No, no. It's just that you spent so long with the Old Deus preparing for your game with Tet I forgot what it was like to crush you."

Mimicking Draga's reveal, Sora pulls out just the needed cards to complete that K-7 stack he'd prepared earlier.

"UGH!"

Draga hangs his head, laughing audibly.

"And I can already see your victory. Do you want to play it out or...?"

Sora waves him off, obviously meaning that the game was over.

"Nah, but there's something you need to-."

Sora was visibly still talking, but Draga wasn't able to hear him after that...

 _What?_

Draga tries to question Sora about whether he was messing with him, but nothing leaves his throat either.

 _Is..._

The world in front of him distorts, radially blurring into a circular mess of colors and shades.

 _NO! That was a dream!_

The black at the center, previously made of the text on Sora's shirt, pools outwards and consumes his vision. The only shape left within the black was a strange white gear piece with various weapons in place of the spokes.

Though, he had something else in mind at the time.

 _I don't want to go back..._

* * *

Draga's senses return to him in a veritable tsunami of information, washing over him in a way his mind has difficulty recognizing for a moment.

He was in shock despite everything else.

 **The effects of [Teacher's Coffee] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

"NO!"

Fire and lightning rides the newly created wind in a wave of anger.

 _I... I am going back._

Determination refilled, Draga smiles cruelly at Ozpin.

*Snap.*

"You."

Draga blasts forward faster than any human can comprehend, specifically the speed of electricity, and smashes Ozpin's face in.

* * *

Draga blasts forward faster than any human can comprehend, specifically the speed of electricity, and smashes Ozpin's face in.

* * *

Draga blasts forward faster than any human can comprehend, specifically the speed of electricity, and smashes Ozpin's face in.

* * *

Draga blasts forward faster than any human can comprehend, specifically the speed of electricity, and smashes Ozpin's face in.

* * *

Draga blasts forward faster than any human can comprehend, specifically the speed of electricity, and smashes Ozpin's face in.

* * *

Draga blasts forward, but Ozpin isn't at his location by the time the attack arrives arrives.

"STOP IT!"

The Gamer in question turns around, anger still clearly visible in his eyes, only to see Ozpin in a similar state of rage.

"Then send me back."

Ozpin laughs heartily for a few seconds, stopping suddenly while looking at Draga.

"Surely you're joking, right? I can't send you back in-."

Ozpin shakes, his heartbeat accelerating in a way Draga can both see and hear.

And then it fades.

 **"You want to go back in time, eh?"**

Draga, in evident confusion, examines everything he can about the two fighters.

 _Where is my Chaos Token?_

As if in answer, 'Ozpin' dangles the trinket in front of him.

 **"I must say, you're quite entertaining. How about it, Konungur? Want to see your friends again?"**

Draga faces directly towards the obviously possessed headmaster.

"I do, but I won't give you anything I deem of particular value."

An uproarious chuckle escapes it's lips, wearing a little thin by the time he bothers to stop.

 **"Please, what do you think I am? The eldest Chaos God? No. I don't want your soul or anything like that. Since you have a Chaos Token, I'll only want two things."**

Obviously wanting to know what they are, Draga questions him.

"And those are?"

 **"Gamer's Mind, and Abyss."**

Draga raises an eyebrow, clearly only able to act this way thanks to one of the above powers.

"How or why would you take those from me?"

 **"No more questions. Do we have a deal?"**

Draga faces down the Chaos God with as much confidence as he can muster.

"Beam me up Scotty."

In lieu of what Draga says, exactly that particle effect occurs when he's pulled out of this dimension.

Tzeench, now within the headmasters body without contest, returns to the school grounds below.

 _ **Very entertaining indeed.**_

* * *

 **Hey-o, everyone. Terakali here with the end of T1 Fickle Things. This is not the end for the little bastard, merely the second beginning.**

 **I will officially start making 'More Fickle Things', the series of side stories and Omakes for this series. I don't have a complete list of what I'll be writing there down, but you will get more backstory on characters like Caelem and Xander as well as a more in depth understanding of what the hell happened to Ozpin.**


	35. Time-1

**You should all find this both incredibly similar and eerily different for a almost perfect retread of the same information. There is a ton of hidden clues and details required to grasp most of the past and future of my story, so you should probably read this thing.**

 **Oh, and I figured I should mention something. I will be, yet again, changing how the profile at the end of chapters work. It will be a lot shorter than it was at the start of Fickle Things, but more useful and explanatory than at the end of T1. Should work out.**

 **And no, I'm not gonna go back and change all those profiles before I get around to doing a complete rewrite.**

 **Without further ado, welcome to T2.**

* * *

Draga lands heavily on the earth, the impact knocking his senses loose for the moment. As he groggily stands up, he notices how dark the new location is, barely any light leaking in. That dim light seems to be enough to get his bearings however, as he examines the forest around him.

The game, whatever it is, seems to be real enough that he can feel and see the trees, moss, and mushrooms sprouting up around him. It wasn't that odd, considering what the Werebeast were capable of, but their game didn't include full sensory information on everything.

 _Well, this game was probably made by gods, so there isn't a whole lot of limit on what they can do._

Speaking of what god's can do, Draga turns around and comes to face a bright multicolored sign with the bold letters of **Congratulations**. There was more text beneath it, in smaller font of course, and a confetti cannon effect going off.

Draga steps up to read the ending piece.

"You are now the fifth gamer. I, being the most generous god that I am, decided to give you a little help on your way, but the rest is up to you. What kinda bullshit is this, Tet? Fifth gamer? Where are the other four then?"

Only after his spiel about the sign does the first message box appear around his character, directly blocking the vision of the now fading letters. The semi-transparent black rectangle shows a map, detailing the location of himself, and two red dots in the distance. The map appears to be 2-D, and as such doesn't display their height, something that becomes obvious as the red dots move past his without anything entering his field of vision.

Of course, this information was absorbed in the moment Draga fell on his ass in surprise.

 _And it followed me._

The map space was still in exactly the same position relative to his face as it was when it was created.

More information could be garnered based on how it was created, though. Since the tab opened when he asked the game a question, that meant the game had a kind of verbal interface.

"Options."

Despite his disbelief that this would work, a text box opens up.

 **Map Settings**

 **GUI Settings**

 **Interface Options**

 **Game Settings**

 **Save Options**

Obviously, being in a game itself, he checks the **Game Settings** for anything useful, but finds it rather lacking. All it seems to have is crap like a **Soundtrack** or **Volume** , stuff he couldn't care less about.

Draga then checks the **Map Settings** , figuring he might as well check through it, and finds that there is a 3-D option, but leaves it off for now. Everything else is basically size of color settings and as such, will be left alone for now. He does however note that everything besides him is currently marked in red.

Annoyed at the so far uselessness of the menu, he merely skims through the **GUI Settings** , finding it to be the same. This continues with the **Interface Options** until about halfway through where he finds not only a list of Voice Commands, but also a setting to make it so thoughts count for them.

Quickly turning that on, he then opens all the ones that seem like menus. This results in him having open an **Inventory** , a **Status Menu** , and a **Skills List**. The first he looks at is his **Status Menu**. which seems to be the biggest one at the moment.

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL1**

 **HP: 400  
**

 **MP: 800  
**

 **Str: 9**

 **Vit: 8**

 **Dex: 11**

 **Int: 16**

 **Wis: 10**

 **Luk: 14**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Status Effects**

Draga eyes his bounty, being quite impressed with how he started. Thinking back on most RPG's, 10 was the average stat for a human to have. He quickly looked down on himself to confirm that he was, in fact, still human. Sighing from relief he looks back and clicks on his Title, wondering what it does.

 **The Best**

 **Grants the user amazing skill at using any weapon, skill, or magic ability he acquires. This cannot provide proficiency if the tool doesn't have an existing master.**

 **Current Proficiencies:**

 _Well, that sounds useful, but not yet I guess._ He closes that box with the **(X)** in the corner before trying to do the same with his class.

ERRR!

The box fails to open, a red warning box popping up and promptly closing itself appearing in its place. _Ugh... I don't even get to learn what my class is. Fabulous._

He closes the **Status Menu** , glancing at his inventory. While his equipment slots are empty, he seems to be wearing clothes anyway. As an experiment, he rips off his T-Shirt sleeve and throws it on the ground. After a moment of anticipation...

Nothing happens.

 _Oh._

As his last experimental act, Draga checks out the **Save Options**. He finds three saves then, two of which are grayed out.

 _ **Disboard - Throne Room/Imanity 22:5:51:6:12:18:0**_

 **Emalgam - Enchanted Cave 22:5:3:6:12:19:6**

 _ **Remnant - Eternal Skies 23:8:2:4:9:15:59**_

It was quite the bouquet of information, the four lines. It wasn't particularly helpful, since the only one he could use was the one for around a minute ago, but it did raise a ton of questions.

There was also one final bit at the end, explaining what the time meant.

 **Year:Month:Week:Day:Hour:Minute:Second**

 _So I have a save file more than a year from now?_

It was... Odd to say the least.

Looking at his inventory again, he notices that he has a shortsword, simple leather armor, and a buckler. He equips the sword to test it, and the sword fizzles into existence in his hand. He does the same with the buckler, but refrains from putting the armor on. Despite armor having better defense than cloth, he would rather dodge the enemy or deflect the attack than rely on shear durability.

He just glanced to his skill page when he faceplanted from something crashing into him from behind.

* * *

Draga groans into the ground, doing a half roll to get his face out of the dirt. He was tempted to attack, since this was likely a tutorial, but stops just short of actually swinging his sword.

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Caelem Argenti, The Pale Rider**

 **[LVL 20]**

 **Alexander [Xander] Grimguard, The Gamer**

It wasn't just the nameplates, though. Their appearances were truly frightening. Caelem stood like a god above him, three pairs of angelic wings sprouting out from his back and his eyes bearing the cold glare of someone who had seen death at it's peak.

Xander was just as imposing a figure, standing half a foot under his partner but still at 6 feet. The rest of him was a mystery as a metal suit blocked out all possible information gathering. Well, except that he had a hammer that weighed more than Draga and his equipment combined.

 **Through careful observation of your surroundings and other people the skill [Observe] has been created.**

Draga ignores that for the moment, eyes fixed on the figures before him. The tension of seeing the two was broken instantly as Xander moves his hand to where it would be scratching his head if not for the suit.

"Sorry about that. Got a bit carried away."

Caelem turns to him, an annoyed expression on his face.

"I can't belief death chose you as a Ghost Rider. You can't even watch where you're going."

"Hehe, I guess your right."

Draga continues to just stare, completely stunned. In his stupor, Draga doesn't even notice what Xander is doing until a blade and a book are sitting down in front of him.

"What is this?"

"Well, I can tell from your **Title** that you are another Gamer. I figured since you're level 1 you could use something to start with. This is a better weapon than what you got, and this book here is supposed to be an electricity skill or something. I didn't use it since I'm specked for a warrior type."

After a moment, Draga picks the sword up. Equipping the new one in his primary hand while shifting the other to his secondary, he turns his attention to the book.

And the new pop-up that came with it.

 **You obtained the skill book 'Elemental Basics: Lightning'. Would you like to learn this skill?**

 **Y/N**

Draga pushes yes expectantly, but is surprised when the book breaks apart into light before vanishing. Draga glances to his inventory to find it missing completely. Another pop-up appears, telling him that he had learned the skill.

 _Um..._

Draga checks his skills tab and finds one called **Lightning** , simply labeled **New** , the text for **New** quickly vanishing. He presses a finger against it and yet another pop-up appears.

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level. Current: 1**

 **Current total affinity: 1**

Draga notices that Affinity is in a different color than the rest of the text, so he presses it, yet more pop-ups appearing.

 **Affinity**

 **Affinity is your attunement to an element, of which there are many. You gain the ability to sense the element from a distance, and can acquire elementals of that kind.**

 **For every point of affinity, up to 200, the user takes 1% less damage of that type, deals 1% more damage, and has .5% mana efficiency while wielding the element. The damage reduction heals when beyond 100%.**

 _Okay... So if I get this ability up to 100 I become immune to electricity, deal double damage, and abilities cost 50% for that element? That's actually really cool._ Draga turns to the pair, having apparently kept them waiting long enough for Caelem to become impatient.

"Come on, lets go. This cave isn't gonna clear itself."

Draga heard what he said, but the gears didn't start turning until they started running off.

"Wait, wait, wait. We are in a cave? But this is clearly a forest, and light is coming down."

Caelem sighs while pinching his nose at being stopped by what he interprets as an idiot.

"Well, it's not a normal cave. This is the Enchanted Cave. We were sent here on a quest by Draco to get to the bottom and find out what's summoning the Hokori. If you weren't sent here for the same reason, how did you get here?"

Before Draga gets a chance to reply, his first quest appears in a much larger text box in front of him.

 **[Alert Quest]**

 **All Is Dust**

 **Go to the place Hokori are being summoned, and help exterminate the Hokori along the way.**

 **Bonus Objective: Defeat the Goliath yourself.**

 **Do you accept this Quest?**

 **Y/N**

After a moment of Caelem staring at him impatiently, Draga presses the Yes button and follows after at full speed.

* * *

"Looks like I'm coming with you. Got a quest for it and everything."

Caelem looks annoyed that another mere child to him would be partaking in his adventure, and he makes this readily apparent.

"Draga, I am here to get the job done and nothing more. If you die, I'm not pulling you out from the underworld."

 **Caelem Argenti**

 **The god of energy and necromancy from a different plane, Caelem is in search of many things. In particular, he hopes to reclaim the power of his wings and his divinity.**

 **Occupation: Student Death**

 _Student Death... As in DEATH, the embodiment of not being alive. Fabulous, I just love this shit._

While Draga has a small mental breakdown, his eyes land on the still unchecked Skills List.

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Grants the user the body of a game character.**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **Granted through mastery of card games.**

 **While playing card games assume Int is raised 235%.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **Granted through mastery of board games.**

 **While playing board games assume Int is raised 270%.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of reflexes.**

 **Assume Dex is raised by 70% while conduction a reflex challenge. Does not increase movement speed.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **Granted through fine honing of ranged weapons training.**

 **Passively increases ranged crit change by 8%**

 **Passively increases ranged damage by 18%**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **Through high IQ and mathematical genius needed to defeat Shiro the user has gained incredible computational ability.**

 **Can solve almost any math problem in 1.98 seconds.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP 14.06% MP:0**

 **A generalized skill to grant the user an understanding of electricity and lightning.**

 **Passively grants the user elemental affinity for lightning.**

 **Affinity scales with skill level Current: 1**

 **Current total affinity: 1**

Obviously the first one was responsible for everything that was going on.

 _I guess the rest are simply carry-overs from my time on Disboard._

Draga only then noticed that the pair he was with had summoned their mounts for faster travel, Xander getting a flaming motorcycle and Caelem getting a pale hairless horse, which is likely the cause of his title. Caelem gestured forward before riding out, his horse being easily able to keep up with Xander's bike. Draga was unfortunately left behind, but thanks to his map he was able to locate them again.

When Draga finally caught up to the pair, they were standing around an obviously out of place red button on a stone pillar. When he approached Caelem instantly warned him off of pressing the button.

"Well what do you think I am, some kind of idiot?"

Draga comes near the button, even feeling around the pillar, as Caelem and Xander discuss options. Draga walks away to join them, but notices that its suddenly a lot hotter in the area. Caelem looks at Draga with an incredibly angered expression.

"You did not just press that button."

"I didn't!"

"Then explain that!"

Caelem says this pointing towards the incredible wildfire now encircling the group. Draga glances up, not having noticed it until this moment, implying that it was moving really fast.

"I don't know, but I didn't press that button."

"Then press it."

"What!?"

"I said press the button. If you didn't press it before, maybe pressing it will fix the problem."

Draga levels a menacing glare at the deity, completely skipping over his power, but does as he was told and presses the button.

It worked exactly as he said, clearing away the flames, but not in the most pleasant way.

Deep in the woods a beast was unleashed, which let out a cacophonous screech throughout the entire forest, the pitch and volume being just right to eradicate the fires. Draga collapses on the ground, unable to hear or balance properly with his obliterated hearing instruments.

* * *

Draga cringes from the pain running through him from the screech, his ear-drums being blown out. Luckily the **Gamer's Body** gets rid of physical injury, so a moment later he is recovered besides the health drop. Unfortunately, the pain takes a moment longer to fade properly, so it takes a second before he can look towards his map for the red dot.

Once he locates it, he gets up

"So, what kinda map you got?"

"Map?"

"You have a map function right."

"Be quiet, I was testing if it worked. Apparently I don't have a map. I do however have a translator mechanic that I found."

"Wait, if you are using a translator, how can Caelem talk to me? I thought you all spoke Imanity/Japanese."

"Gift of Tongues. Pretty cool power. You might run into problems with people elsewhere though."

The conversation was cut short as Draga came to a halt. Around 10 feet in front of them was the location of the red dot, and it was clearly on this floor, so... Where was it?

"Can any of you sense invisible things?"

Xander nods, triggering the infra-red vision in his suits visor. It doesn't reveal anything though, which confuses him. Caelem takes this time to interject.

"What's wrong with you guys? It's right there."

Within his perception, it was. Being Death, even the disciple of Death, granted him the ability to sense living things, and perceive them through any methods he had. He lifts his palm to face the creature, and lightning shoots out of it, blasting the creature and making it screech again.

The volume of the creature is so absurd at this range that Xander even was hurt by it, although not by much.

After recovering from the shockwave that came from its throat, Draga glances towards where it came from, pulling out his sword and charging it. The creature doesn't attempt to dodge, merely expecting its invisibility to hide its presence.

Being a LVL 1 RPG character, he wasn't strong enough to deal much damage, dropping it by literally 5 HP, but HP was not corollary to physical damage. The gash made in the creature leaked blood, revealing the beasts side to the group, as it let out another screech, blowing Draga away from it. He went a few meters in flight, slamming into a slightly scorched tree, and dropping a good 200 HP from the two sources.

It takes a moment for him to recover, but once he does he notices a pop-up from the action.

 **Through repeated action the ability [Physical Endurance] has been created.**

 **Physical Endurance** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0  
**

 **Through heavy or repeated injury the user has become at least slightly accustomed to injury.**

 **Grants 3% damage reduction from physical damage sources.**

Draga doesn't even bother thinking about it before he returns to the fight, watching the following from his semi-standing position.

With even partial vision of the target, Xander was able to make quick work of the beast, charging it with his hammer and slamming it down on the visible wound. Xander pumps MP into his weapon, triggering its secondary effect, and literally smiting the beast. Now dead, it entered the visible spectrum.

Looking at its corpse revealed it to be a bird-like cat. Fading from view, as the game registers its end, was a nameplate that was previously hidden because of its invisibility.

 **[LVL 26]**

 **Koriko, The Assassin Beast**

Draga's mental celebration was cut short as he was bombarded with pop-ups, eight in total, each saying the same thing.

 **Your level as increased by one!**

 _SWEET!_

Draga celebrates the victory with a few obligatory whooping sounds and hopping around before he notices Caelem staring at him.

"You are weak."

Draga plants himself on the ground, staring the god down petulantly.

"Yeah? Well if you want me to be strong, I need a bit more than the currently worthless skill you gave me."

Caelem sighs for quite some time before he does something Draga never considered possible; he reached into what appeared to be another **Inventory** and pulled out a tablet. Caelem tosses it to Draga, who was unprepared for the 8 pound weight of the thing, and as such falls over with it.

"Feel free to use it. I know of your power from Xander here, and while I didn't give him one of those tomes, I did give him something far more valuable, a God's blessing."

 _Of course he gives me the less useful thing._

He doesn't let that thought stop him from absorbing the tablet, however.

 **Pale Lightning** **(Active) LVL1 EXP 0.00% MP:100**

 **A skill acquired from Caelem Argenti to create lightning bolts. Despite the color of lightning being dependent on the material it passes this spell always makes white bolts.**

 **Creates a number of lightning bolts from the hand.**

 **Damage scales with Int and skill level.**

 **Number increases with skill level Current: 1 bolt**

 _Cool, might as well test it out now, although that price is pretty steep. Probably gonna have to grind it later._

Draga casts **Pale Lightning** , but makes a crucial mistake: not opening his palm. The blast shoots out of his palm, directly into the other half of his right hand. The numbness and pain quickly fading thanks to his power, Draga is able to avoid the adverse physical effects, but he did lose another 100 HP from his own attack.

Caelem smiles broadly, internally laughing at his 'comrade's' misfortune.

"I did show you how to do it, remember?"

This was barely said through his stifled chuckling that he couldn't hold back entirely anymore.

"Yeah, yeah. Shush."

Draga casts it again, properly this time, and relights one of the trees on fire. Caelem takes the chance to display another of his powers. He floats up to the flames, and places a hand within them. The flames start to disappear, their energy being absorbed by the pseudo-angel. When he finishes, the only evidence of it ever happening are the slightly more scorched tree and Caelem's wings slightly darkening in color, more of a light grey now.

"I take it you can't teach me that."

"Nope. Now lets go, the next floor should have opened up."

Before they can get going though, the beasts corpse starts moving. Xander reflexively raises his hammer, and Draga his sword, but a moment later the tension vanishes. Breaking out of its flesh is a tiny version of itself, unfortunately coated in its parents blood. Odd that it decided to be born now, but that didn't really matter.

Xander makes a move to kill it, but Draga stands between them to stop him.

"We could just make it a pet or something."

"Do you have a familiar skill?"

"No..."

"Well neither do I. You have fun figuring that out."

"I-"

The conversation is cut off as the ground starts shaking, as if an earthquake was approaching. The movements gradually worsen, only Caelem being unaffected since he was flying. The shaking finally stops for just a moment before a massive worm raises out from the earth where the bird was, consuming it instantly.

As it soars into the sky, a mere 10% of its body already reaching 40 feet into the air, its name becomes visible above its head.

 **[LVL59]**

 **Alagut Furo, The Earthly Drill**

At the 40 ft peak in its movement, it starts falling down towards the group. Despite his vastly higher DEX, when compared to Draga, Xander is unable to dodge the worms rotating maw as it falls, unfortunately going inside. The benefit of being small, and the worm moving down, is that Xander isn't consumed like the bird, merely being bombarded by debris from what the worm is digging through.

Xander takes a moment to re-summon his hellcycle, it breaking up out of the dirt, and riding it along the stomachs of the worm, hoping to escape its rear before it traps him under the ground.

Meanwhile, outside the giant worm, Caelem is throwing spell after spell at the thing, trying to find an elemental weakness, but finds none. Draga is being himself, IE incredibly outclassed at the moment, and as such meekly casts **Pale Lightning** at it whenever he can.

The worm takes a long time for its massive body to complete its first approach, having been disappointed the first time around by only catching two things to eat. Being a worm, it had a slow metabolism, but being large meant that it also needed a TON of food anyway.

Xander made it in the nick of time, popping out from behind the worm a mere 3 feet from the ground. He brakes and gets off, running towards Caelem with his bike seeping back into the ground.

"Caelem, give me wings."

Caelem starts actually flying *Shocker* and stops when behind Xander. He places his hand on his back, powering up the physical manifestation of the blessing. A pair of wings, similar to Caelem's own, grow rapidly from the back of Xanders suit, seemingly unaffected by the metal barrier.

He floats up, able to ignore the returning effects of an earthquake, seeing as he wasn't on the ground anymore.

When he reaches the same height Alagut got before, he stops, waiting for his return.

He doesn't have to wait long, as the creature rushes up, narrowly missing Draga as he dives away, and becoming a prime target for Xanders attack. Xander swings his hammer, dumping the vast majority of his own mana pool into his hammer to create a truly divine smite. When it impacts the front of the worm, it bats it away like an insect.

The impact to its front is more devastating to it than can be seen. The teeth inside its mouth were not attached in the strongest of ways, having been used for a long time on the hard stone of the earth. Because of this, the impact blows a large number of his teeth from their sockets, slicing him up internally down large chunks of his body.

While his HP bar didn't have a specific value attached to it, using **Observe** revealed that he was at around 20% HP from that blow alone. Unfortunately, it would be able to recover if it escaped and Xander wasn't gonna be able to repeat that.

This is the moment when Caelem finally steps into the ring himself, placing a hand along the fast moving surface of the worm.

"Death Touch."

Anywhere his hand touches along its body starts turning black, the necrotic effect spreading. This saps at its health for a few seconds, draining it the rest of the way before it can even dig its incredibly large form away

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

Unlike the last fight, Xander also gained levels, although less since he was higher than Draga. This is only further pressed when he finds items on the ground next to Alagut's corpse. Xander picks up the skillbook, seeing as he had no use for the rest of what he saw, and left the stuff to Draga who hadn't gotten around the body yet.

Draga would be a minute, as he was reading some more notifications that popped up during the fight.

 **Through special action the ability [Detect Bloodlust] has been created.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The user has been exposed to either vast hunger, of which the user is applicable prey, or vast bloodlust. They are now attuned to those feelings and can tell a general direction they are coming from.**

 **Current range: 5m**

 **Actively triples the range. Cannot be used actively while moving.**

Draga's attention was only taken for a moment by the pop-up before he sprints around the gigantic corpse and to the rest of the party.

 _Actually, does this game have a party system?_

It was something to test at another time.

When he finally got around the worm, Draga saw a sword, roughly the same size as what he had, but colored red and appearing sharper than his own.

Beside the weapon there was also a set of armor, clearly going for the knight style, if not for the red cape and black coloring.

He puts the armor in his **Inventory** , seeing as he probably couldn't use it right now, and goes to pick up the sword. When he does, a pop-up occurs... And it doesn't look very good.

 **Corrupted** **(Low)**

 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**

 **Doesn't affect highest stat.**

 **+20% to lowest stat.**

 **-5% other stats.**

Wait for it...

 _AH!_

Being corrupted on his first day was not the best thing he could think of.

"Xander... This sword just messed with me somehow. It's both buffing and debuffing me."

Xander mulls over that for a moment.

"You haven't awoken your aura yet, have you?"

Draga quirks his eyebrow at him.

"No... What's an aura?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Stand still for me."

Xander walks over and presses his palm against Draga's chest. A sort of energy flows between the contact, awakening something within Draga. The strange feeling of power he feels is only emphasized by the newest in his procession of pop-ups.

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL50 EXP: 0.00% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It's a power that allowed Mankind to reach past their human limits and drive back the darkness, letting them bear their burdens and shielding their hearts. Draga has released his soul with the assistance of Alexander Grimguard, someone who unlocked this power on Remnant.**

 **Passively increases STR by 177%.**

 **Passively increases DEX by 177%.**

 **Passively increases VIT by 177%.**

 **Passively increases INT by 177%.**

 **Passively increases WIS by 177%.**

 **Additional 177% increase to STR when activated.**

 **Additional 177% increase to DEX when activated.**

 **Additional 177% increase to VIT when activated.**

 **HP regeneration speed increased by 100% when activated.**

Draga eyes the frankly incredibly broken ability for a second before looking towards Xander.

"What's Remnant? My game says I have a save file there..."

"Remnant is a world taken over by some pretty powerful monsters, although most are weaker than that worm. I plan on heading back there at some point, so you could come if you'd like."

"I might take you up on that."

He pauses for a moment.

"Do you have any idea why the skill wouldn't start at level 1?"

"I don't know man. It's your soul. It probably just gave you experience since you've lived awhile without the power."

Draga nods, following him with his new sword placed in his inventory. He still hasn't put any points anywhere, hoping to get some free points off of exercise or something. It's kinda odd that nothing has been gained for free yet, actually.

It takes a long time to find the next tunnel, but luckily for them it was uneventful. They follow it into the next area, completely content that their powers can save them from anything this place throws at them. Why they walk, Draga is using the Active on **Aura** just to experience what it was like.

The massive increases to his perceptions and feeling of power were obvious the moment the ability was unlocked, but by activating it he felt invigorated, as if nature was giving him the best massage while also granting him strength.

It was incredible, to say the least.

Draga admires the scenery as they walk, noting how much detail went into designing the environment. Yes, it was mostly stone dirt and wood, but it was very natural and wild looking.

And then a stone gate slams closed behind them.

 _Oh Tet dammit!_

They appear to be trapped in a hallway with seven doors, numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The gate also has the number 20 on it.

"Onwards and forwards."

Leading the group, Caelem went through door 8.

* * *

When they entered the first room, the door closed automatically behind them, seeming to vanish into the wall once closed. A moment passes before a riddle becomes apparent in the wall.

 **"I am the angel that made you; I am the demon that killed you. I am the god that blessed you and the truth that cursed you. What am I?"**

Xander screams profanity at the universe, calling them out on their bullshit, and Draga comes up empty, having no idea how to put in an answer even if he had it. Shortly before their arms gave out at holding the walls, which would crush them, Caelem says the most critical word to the group at the time.

"Life."

The walls retreat, but only a small portion of the way, to allow them back out the door, which had faded back into existence just then. When they looked at the gate from he hallway, the number had dropped from 20 to 12.

"Okay, so we gotta get 20 points, and the numbers on the door determine the point values, I guess? Lets do 1, 4, and 7 then. That will add up to 20."

Draga looks to the group for replies, but doesn't get any through words, instead Xander just opens the number 1 door and walks in. Caelem and Draga follow behind, arriving a moment later. Once again, the door locks behind them before the room is actually unveiled.

This time around, the room was actually quite pleasant. The boundaries were made of a sparkling marble, with a pool taking up half the room, and a mysterious light coming from above. Walking to the edge of the pool, they can see through the pristine waters to the bottom.

Draga takes that back, this room was not pleasant. The room was straight forward, but pleasant was a word for a different continent from this room.

Down at the bottom of the pool was a key, obviously meant to unlock the door. Above it, filling the 60 feet deep, thirty feet long, and 60 feet wide pool were a veritable army of sharks, none of which were normal. Excluding level variance, this was above all of their heads.

 **[LVL 18]**

 **Torpedo Shark**

Not bothering to create a plan, Xander leapt into the waters, his suit being heavy enough to drag him down. The sharks bit at him, dealing minor HP damage but not actually damaging him significantly. Seeing their lack of effectiveness, the sharks get of biting him, they start ramming him from below, stopping his decent and continuing to gradually chip at his HP.

Being underwater, Xanders mobility was severely limited, so he couldn't really do much but tank it until he came up with a counterattack. When the next one rammed him, he pushed himself along its side, grabbed its fin, and forcibly turning it downward.

A commonly unknown fact about sharks is that if they stop swimming they die, so they can't intentionally stop (There are a few exceptions, but they use underwater air vents to simulate movement. They need the movement to breath, pretty core thing).

With that instinctually ingrained in its mind, the shark is forced to bring Xander down, Xander's strength overpowering any attempt it had to turn a different way.

While going down, Xander discovered why they were called Torpedo Sharks. They went FAST when going straight. The shark slammed into the base, throwing Xander off itself in the process. Being on ground Xander was able to make it over to the key, and put it inside his inventory.

Now came the hard part. Gravity would pull him down, but that worked both ways. The sharks went higher up to avoid him, giving up on the difficult meal, and not giving him an exit. Xander may be a Gamer, but he did need to breathe. After around a minute of being underwater Xander's HP started ticking down... And down... And down... It would last a while, but even with his ridiculous HP regen it was dropping.

 _Tet dammit... This is why you should let the god in the room take care of everything._

Unfortunately, he had to do something now.

Draga holds his palm out towards the water, followed by spamming **Pale Lightning** into the rather large pool. This shocks the sharks, not dealing a whole lot of damage to them, but apparently making them docile, likely having fried nerves or parts of their brain for the moment.

 _So at least injuries function normally for game creatures. Does this mean if I kill them normally, they die in the game?_

He didn't get another moment to think of it when Xander blasts out of the water, having stripped his armor the moment the sharks froze using his inventory and then sequentially leaping up and out. Key in hand and a drenched rogue outfit everywhere else, Xander makes his way to the door to let them out.

Like it was predicted, the gate out now said 11.

"4 and 7 was it?"

Xander, like before, just walks straight into door 7. The group following behind is met with an eerie sight. The entire room is dark except for the dim light coming off a pentagram on the far wall. When the group fully enters a demon steps out from inside the wall.

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Mewujudkan, The Nothing In The Dark**

Xander looks at it for a second before noticing an inconsistency in the light behind it. It was hard to tell because the demon was in the way of the rune, but then something changes.

Behind it a very clear number appears in a massive font. Glowing a vibrant purple, only partially obscured by the easily 20 foot tall creature due to its sheer size, is the number 5. A second passes, and the number changes to four.

Xander panics, wasting 2 seconds before Gamer's Mind comes in. Caelem isn't even reacting, knowing what Asmodeas is (I should probably mention that the name of Mewujudkan's weapon is Asmodeas) and content with the fact that he can't be killed by it. Draga, meanwhile, would be shitting himself in terror if the game didn't make this thing impossible.

2 seconds left on the clock and Xander raises his weapon, prepared to defend himself. Caelem continues to do nothing, content with their deaths as he's grown numb to most emotional pain over centuries. I mean, even if he hadn't there wasn't any real connection between him and the party.

It was this time that Draga remembers something. In the previous rooms, the doors locked or vanished entirely. He didn't hear anything, so he turns around, blowing off his second to last tick.

With his last second, Draga notices the still open door, and grabs the pair by the scruff of their necks, throwing them out and running forward.

But he doesn't make it across the threshold himself.

The door closes, leaving Xander and Caelem alone on one side, and Draga on the other.

Draga turns towards the demon, the timer having vanished from the wall as the room lights up a relatively bright red.

It smiles, the sharp teeth in its mouth forming an intimidating site.

Draga, without turning away, reaches for a handle on the door, but doesn't find one.

 **"Hello, Draga. It's been quite some time."**

The grim reaper takes a more comfortable position on the wall.

 **"Never thought I'd be here again."**

Completely bewildered, Draga is unprepared for the door he was leaning on suddenly not being there, and as such falls on his back.

"MAN, that thing was heavy. Good thing I'm technically a god."

Draga is thrown for a loop about what happens, but neither the demon nor Draga's party seems at all surprised.

 **"If you don't mind, I have a certain person to kill again. Bye bye."  
**

The immortal takes a step forward, and then vanishes, moving so quickly as to pass even Caelem's perceptions. It seems to appear behind the party before its previously black 'skin' turns a similar red to that of the room. It mumbles something about 'repetition' before vanishing once again.

It was time to continue, so Caelem drags Draga to the next door. With only one room left, they just walked in as before. The fourth room, with the number four. Fitting.

For the first time since entering the cave, Draga was actually happy with what he saw. Along the back wall of the room were eight different chests, all seemingly identical to the rest. Xander, feeling he deserved something for his efforts, walks up to the first chest and opens it.

The interior of it glows a vibrant red before exploding in his face, blowing him all the way into the far wall, a large crater being blown into it on impact. Even through his armor his comparatively massive healthbar dropped by over 20%.

The smoke from the explosion obscures the room for the group, and they hear wood moving along the stone ground. When it finally settles all of the chests appear to be in the same position, except all of them are closed and unmarked.

"What the hell! It blows up stronger than my god damn hammer, and not a mark on it! BULLSHIT!"

In his rage, he walks towards the far left chest again. He internally groans at what he sees inside: A red glowing effect. A moment later he is sent sailing again, crashing into the wall. _Okay... So despite rearranging themselves, they can be anywhere. We also have no idea if there are multiple of those... Best to be safe and hope we find the key in time._ A moment passes before Draga comes to a thought. _If they weren't alive, they must arrange themselves mechanically. In this method, it wouldn't make sense for it to repeat itself... Unless it never changes... Wait._

"Xander, recover for a moment and open the first chest."

"WHAT!? It's just gonna blow up in my face again!"

"Just trust me. I can figure something out if you do."

Xander sighs, clearly exasperated, but does as he was told.

After a half-minute or so of recovering his HP back over 75% he walks up to the first chest, only for a new interior to show itself. Inside the chest, rather than an explosion, are a disgusting collection of the **Observe** tells him are cow eyeballs and tongues. It does say that the tongues are useful for cooking though, so he takes those out and places them into his **Inventory**.

Xander, not having a item limit for his inventory (Draga can hold 50 different stacks of items, with no limit on the stacks, plus equipment slots), just dumps the eyes in his. A moment later the stares he receives makes him explain himself.

"Hey, you never know when I might need these. Hell, might even be useful for baiting animals and stuff. Anyway, lets continue."

Draga's stare doesn't vanish instantly, but it gradually dissipate.

Xander opens the second chest, immediately taking arrow fire at a rapid rate. Luckily his suit deflected the arrows, knocking them sideways harmlessly. He stops the function by pulling all the arrows left inside out, dropping them in his **Inventory** as well.

Leaving the already fired, and likely damaged, arrows on the ground, he moves to the third chest, opening it as well. An inviting red glow comes out.

 _Shit..._

For the third time this room, Xander is sent flying into and slightly through the stone walls of the room.

"Draga, why don't you deal with this shit?"

Draga, not exactly happy to rush into these chests not knowing when one might explode and instakill him, politely refuses.

"Well, I guess we're gonna be here a while then. I'm not doing that shit again."

Loudly voicing his opinion on that through a groan, Draga glances to Caelem who shrugs his shoulders.

"Nothing this room could offer will be of value to me."

Nodding to Caelem, Draga begrudgingly moves to open the far left chest again.

He is pleasantly surprised when it isn't a trap. Inside is a set of medieval full plate, colored in a dark black with silver trimming, and adorned with a black cape. Using **Observe** on the armor before putting on the armor only reveals that each piece is part of the **Runie's Set** , some kind of armor collection. Draga, figuring what the hell, puts the armor on through his **Inventory** , the equipment resizing itself to fit his lanky frame. When he finishes equipping it all a pop-up appears.

 **Runies Armor Set Bonuses:**

 **100DR, 20% increased damage dealt with physical attacks, negate all electrical attacks below 1000 damage, if over 1000 reduce by 500, increase damage taken from falling by 20%, reduce all damage from heat by 50%, the wearer is immune to low quality poisons, and Str increased by 5.**

It's only when he fully removes the set of armor from the chest that he see's a necklace underneath it. Using **Observe** again, making it level up, he learns about its absurd usefulness if he builds magic.

 **Necklace: Babel - A necklace previously owned by a man named Babel. The man infused his magic into the necklace so he would have a little extra on him if he ever needed it. Grants user .5% increased MP per Int point. This effect may affect other energy resources.**

Draga then goes to the second chest, opening it and finding it empty, likely one of the ones looted before. Kinda sad when you think about it, infinite loot would be pretty cool.

It's only when he opens the third that he gets the taste of what Xander went through. Thanks to the new armor he acquired, Draga didn't quite die. Instead, an incessant beep resounds in his head before the 10 HP finally turns to 11.

"Not doing that shit again."

Xander, being able to see Draga's healthbar, recognizes the danger doing it again would put him in, and as such steps up to continue.

Starting at the right this time, Xander opens his next chest. Inside he finds three rings, all identical and named **Kembar** and three skill books. Calling Draga over to act as a test-dummy for the equipment, he places one of the rings directly onto his finger. Without the game's interference, the ring resizes itself to the finger, and glows an ominous blue upon completion.

Despite the foreshadowing effect of the glow, nothing actually happens. Slightly disappointed, Draga uses **Observe** himself, but acquires no useful information on it either. He tries putting a second one on, but a pop-up appears when he tries to, and the ring actively resists being put on him.

 **Only one Kembar may be equipped at a time.**

Well, a bad ring wouldn't have that condition, right? He moves onto the books, Xander nodding his permission to take them. Unless they were specifically good for his kit, he wouldn't take the skills from the newbie. A series of pop-ups appear in Draga's vision as he picks them up.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [Virulent Scourge]**  
 **Would you like to learn this skill?**  
 **Y/N**  
 **You have acquired the skillbook [Electrical Silhouette]**  
 **Would you like to learn this skill?**  
 **Y/N**  
 **You have acquired the skillbook [Electrical Storm]**  
 **Would you like to learn this skill?**  
 **Y/N**

He quickly accepts the set of skills, happy to acquire them.

 **Electrical Storm (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second per m^3**  
 **The user can create a storm of electricity. This storm feeds on the electrical energy of those within radius as well as can be fueled by the user.**  
 **Can expend more mana to deal more damage, works linearly.**  
 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100**  
 **The user can progress status effects either on themselves or others. This only works if there is a negative effect from the status.**  
 **Current % from trigger:1%**

The third one, you may ask?

The game helpfully provided that error notification again and deleted the book anyway.

 _Fan-fucking-tastic._

Ignoring the annoying effect, he glances to the **Virulent Scourge** ability.

 _I had Corruption or something didn't I?_

Using a large chunk of his mana on the ability, Draga boosts his **Corruption** status effect up a level.

 **Corrupted (Med)**  
 **The user has been tainted by the corruption of Eldra. They have both boosted and reduced abilities from it and may gain extra power if corrupted further.**  
 **+20% highest stat.**  
 **+40% lowest stat.**  
 **-10% other stats.**

"Whew... This is substantial. If I get this to High... Maybe Max- I don't know- it might become awesome!"

Not realizing he was talking to himself, Draga goes to check his status screen, something he hadn't done since LVL1.

* * *

Draga stares at his stats for a second.

 **Level: LVL13**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 2707  
**

 **Str: 9(22.437)**

 **Vit: 8(31.024)**

 **Dex: 11(27.423)**

 **Int: 16(44.32)**

 **Wis: 10(24.93)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

He had 60 points to work with. He should probably upgrade some things.

"Draga, you popping your points in?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Try and get stats to 50. I get skills that way, but with the differences in our systems I wouldn't know for sure."

With that in mind, he has to think of what to upgrade anyway. **Dex** was out, since he literally couldn't upgrade it right now. **Luk** was out since he didn't want to rely on chance, but cold hard math. _Warrior or mage build... Don't wanna go mixed class, at least for now._

Thinking back to his new skills, he could barely use them because he didn't have mana. Checking back he saw he had 50 HP per **Vit** and 50 MP per **Int**. If he raised his **Int** to 50 he would actually be able to use the new skills for a few seconds, and still have 26 points left to spend. Deciding to fill **Wis** to 36 as well, Draga dumps 34 points into **Int** and watches as a pair of pop-ups appear.

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **The user has become attuned to the ways of mana. This repeating buff boosts their magical abilities substantially.**

 **Passively increases Max MP by 100% per stack**

 **Passively increases MP regen by 50% per stack**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **The user can construct shapes out of mana. The designs are limited only by your mana total and your imagination, although their uses are limited by their form. These objects must be connected to the users body in some way.**

 **Create any desired shape from mana. Speed of objects is relative to Int.**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

Committing to his earlier thought, Draga raises **Wis** to 36, granting him increases MP regen but little else tangible increase.

 _Another 3 levels it is._

"We better get a move on. This cave isn't gonna clear itself."

While traveling behind the pair out the gate and further down some tunnels, Draga tests out his other two new skills. **Electrical Storm** levels up on its first use, creating a bright shape made out of electricity when he does. Despite what should have been a ridiculous drain from the ability, his mana bar doesn't drop quite as fast. Draga stops the ability after five seconds, it leveling again afterwards. This also levels his affinity skill.

A moment passes, allowing Draga to test his regen. It appears to be going up by 1% per minute per Wis.

"So, can I get something awesome too? He got the ability to create electricity anywhere!"

The universe wasn't very happy about his demand, and to Xander's dismay (having been scarred by these in the past floors [More than just the one Draga was there for]) a big red button on a pillar is the only thing in the next room.

"NO! NO! No, no, no, no, no no no, no, no. Nope, fuck this, I'm out."

Before Xander can walk back out of the room, Caelem hits the button with a big fat smirk on his face.

Further adding to Xander's permanent hatred of buttons, the button triggers a collapse of the walls of the tiny room, the open space revealing a massive cavern. The room is over 100 meters tall, and 200 meters in diameter.

It was a massive cavern, decorated by Gothic architecture, something Caelem was admiring despite the presence of enemies.

Standing in a group along a strip of wall, is a group of powerful named enemies. Despite his evident fear and lack of preparation for the obviously high level enemies, Draga manages to pop **Observe** on them.

 **[LVL 46]**

 **Vagrant, The Wanderer**

 **A giant flying jellyfish. It doesn't have much mass, allowing it to propel itself through the skies. It normally wanders, but has been imprisoned within the cave for a long time.**

 **[LVL 48]**

 **Borban, Colossal Golem**

 **A stone golem, composed of many smaller golems. The monsters footsteps cause quakes and it can summon other golems. A golem doesn't simply live however, it must seek out power to survive.**

 **[LVL 45]**

 **Moporta, The Imp Lord**

 **The lord of all Imps. The creature has mastered the art of teleportation to such a degree that it can teleport masses besides itself. It can also use this as a weapon but creating beams that teleport the matter hit into a destructive dimension.**

 **[LVL 47]**

 **Acid Beast, Acrid**

 **A smaller specimen, generated from a lab, of an alien species. Acrid has become infested, now able to produce both acids and diseases.**

 **[LVL 46]**

 **The Hunter, Speclar**

 **A man who has master the art of the hunt, previously bent on hunting the creatures within the cave he was corrupted by the magic and is now bent on destroying everything else.**

 **[LVL 49]**

 **The Cremator, Tortu**

 **A massive magical turtle which normally lives inside of magma but has cooled to become a normal 60 feet long turtle.**

 **[LVL ?]**

 **Providence**

 **?**

The group of obviously boss monsters doesn't attack the group right off, merely looking their way as if judging their strengths. The one Draga couldn't identify is leaning against the wall, seemingly bored and ignoring the trio.

Caelem makes the first move, walking towards the group with open arms. Using his gift of tongues, he speaks to all of them at once.

"Greetings mortals. I am Caelem Argenti, and we bear no ill will against you. If you let us pass, we will let you go."

Acrid moves, revealing a tunnel exit behind him. Problem is, he wasn't moving out of the way. He was charging towards Caelem with a new bloodthirsty look in his eye. The 6 foot long green Rhino-lookalike barreled down on Caelem at 45 MPH, the rest of the group ignoring his antics for the moment, and still merely observing. When Acrid finally reaches Caelem and opens his mouth to snare him in his maw, Caelem jumps into the air above it, floating a good 20 feet above the beast. For the first time since entering, the bosses (Except Providence) attack as one.

The Colossus, being so large, only needs to take one step to enter battle. The problem is with how stiff and bulky its body is, it takes a long time for it to do so.

The Cremator charges Xander and Draga, intent to keep them busy for the rest of them. Despite its impressive size and the animal it is modeled after, it travels significantly faster than Acrid was, reaching the group in a measly two seconds.

Caelem, meanwhile, is bombarded by projectiles on three fronts. Vagrant was shooting bioluminescent disks from its body at him, the various colors obviously meant to distract him from their lethality. Down below Acrid was spewing a green caustic substance up at him. Finally, the Imp Lord was creating portal-pillars up around him to places of destruction.

Caelem, being the stingy bastard he was, doesn't even try and dodge the attacks. Instead he turns himself into smoke, the disks passing right through him along with the caustic spittle. The only problem with this defense is the smoke becomes tainted by the fluid that passes through it, turning a sickly green color.

Once Caelem reforms, large chunks of his body are affected, pain wracking his entire form. Determined not to get hit by that again, Caelem pulls out one of his weapons for the first time, a pair of flintlock pistols. A significant difference between these pistols and the ones they are modeled after, is that these don't need to reload. He can infuse magic into them to create everything it needs to fire, and even make the attacks elemental. He aims his guns downward, pulling their trigger the moment the target was within their sights.

The missiles shot out travel faster than anyone in the room can perceive, shooting directly through the skull of Acrid and tearing a massive hole through most of his body. This happens twice, killing the beast instantly.

Of course, there was the other side of the room during that time.

Xander, being the one equipped to handle the charging turtle, leaps into the air, his hammer in hand, and falls towards its head. Pulling it back before slamming it hard into its face, Xander crushes its skull with the hammer, holy lightning decimating its brain into mulch.

2 down, 5 to go.

Now revealing himself behind the beast as the Hunter, shooting what looked like a smoke grenade out of his weapon. It was difficult to pin down what exactly he was using... It had so many components it could theoretically shoot anything. The only part recognized, besides the grenade launcher, was used a mere second later.

Gunfire rained down on Xander's armor, chipping it and dealing around 60 damage a shot to him. Xander attempts to run away, but somehow the Hunter keeps track of him in the smoke.

Taking this as his chance, Draga creates electricity within the space occupied by the visibly unmoving Hunter.

The attack clearly works as the man is writhing in pain while spazzing out.

Then the Goliath finally lands it's first step.

The entire room shakes on its landing, the 200 foot tall behemoth creating a crater in the stone floor the size of a small meteor impact. Excluding Providence, the Colossus himself, and the flying creatures, the things inside are flung away from the point of contact. Even Caelem and the Vagrant feel the vibrations despite being mid-air.

Xander manages to enter a four-contact slide to stop his momentum. Draga and the Hunter aren't so lucky.

Before he get a chance to act, the hunter slams into the Cremator's corpse, impaling himself on one of it's massive spikes. Draga, on the other hand, is blasted into the air to crash painfully into the cobblestone walls of the massive room. Coughing up blood, he ignores the notification of physical endurance leveling up along with the two notifications that he'd leveled up, in favor of blindly shooting lightning at the vagrant

Spamming the ability over and over again, leveling it up several times as his mana drains, he hits the Vagrant and causes it to crash into it's final resting place: the floor.

Noting its allies dying rapidly, the Imp decides to leave the combat altogether. It enters a meditative state, a pulse firing out from its body and pulling Caelem and itself away from the current location.

And that leaves only the Colossus and Providence as the bosses of the room, one of which was still lazily leaning against the wall; Xander and Draga were in high spirits. Xander leaps high into the air, reaching the knee of the massive golem, and slams his hammer into it.

The attack does almost nothing.

Leaving only a dent with his attack, admittedly not charged with the divine lightning, Xander decides to go for a more obvious tactic. His wings, previously awakened by Caelem and never closed, open themselves to their full wingspan, allowing Xander to float up way above the Colossus.

Finally reaching the ceiling, Xander readies his weapon for a dive against the Colossus, aiming to blow its skull to pieces with the power of gravity.

It was that moment the ceiling broke open, and a 400 pound Orc behemoth slammed into Xander, grabbing his leg mid fall, and smashing him into the nearest thing: The Colossus.

The force of gravity had nothing on the force of an enraged Orc falling at well over 80 MPH and having literally broke his way through several floors worth of stone in order to take is rage out on something.

Orc's were not happy creatures. Being teleported into a new area with his companions left behind?

Doomsday has returned.

The Colossus's upper body burst from the force, the structure having imperfections due to its sheer size to begin with. As the Orc and Xander fell further, the Orc still using Xander as a weapon to beat his way through the stone of the giant Golem, Draga catches a look at his nameplate and even gets an **Observe** off.

 **[LVL 34]**

 **Thrak, The Breaker**

 **A noble Orc who's entire clan was killed besides himself. He is easily sent into an extreme rage and is hard to deal with then, but while outside of it he is a reasonable person. Thrak does not rely on magic, despite it being available, and instead crushes all those before him with his incredible strength and tenacity.**

 **Currently in rage.**

For the first time since entering the cave, Draga laughs. It was absurd. The Colossus was a creature Xander couldn't hurt, and Draga clearly couldn't either, but Thrak was just blowing his way through it with Xander's body.

In his fit of laughter, Draga didn't notice the Goliaths last attempt at surviving the encounter.

Coming out of the Goliath's "Corpse" were many smaller golems, ones that were only level 18 and were also only his size. Thrak, having run out of downward momentum for his continued cleaving, starts smashing the smaller golems to bits instead, his rage being more than sufficient to fuel him for days.

It took several minutes of obliterating golems left and right for them to stop appearing out of the stone, likely killed completely. This thought is only further pushed by the arrival of 3 more levels on Draga's side.

Thrak, not knowing of Providence or Draga's existences yet, believes all the enemies to be gone and as such his rage subsides.

He looks at the weapon he had been using only to find it weighed less than it did before, so much so that they damage he dealt to it wouldn't account for it. He sets Xander's empty suit down on the ground before hulking his way over to the relatively puny human who caught his eye.

"Where is Thrak?"

"What?"

"Where is Thrak."

"You don't know where you are? We're in the Enchanted Cave, at least according to the ally you just used as a beat stick."

"Thrak need escape. You lead the way."

"Lead the way out of the cave? Uh..."

"Sure, sure. We just need to deal with that guy."

Draga says this gesturing towards Providence, who is still doing nothing, but is in the way of continuing.

Yes, it was lying, but give him a break. When you have a 400 pound Orc who just broke down a living mountain in front of you asking you to lead the way, you tend to listen.

Thrak glances at him for a moment, before turning to Draga.

"What can you do?"

"I use lightning magic."

"He wears armor. Zap him."

Thrak then sighed, looking up at the knight posed over the doorway and smirking.

"You, who harnesses the power of lightning, can't beat a man in a metal suit?"

Thrak may be slow but even he know that metal attracts lightning and those struck by lightning don't tend to live long.

"Just turn to lightning and give that tin-can a hug."

Thrak said almost laughing.

 _I can't turn to lightning, though..._

Shrugging it off, and then moving his arms more to make it look like he was stretching instead since any shown weakness would be bad for him, Draga turns to face Providence.

 _You can do this._

Just as he did with Speclar, Draga fills the entire space of the 'tin-can's body with lightning.

And it works, fusing his bones and melting his nerves in the span of a second.

 _Huh..._

* * *

The battle over, Draga gets a look at his HP.

 _Well, I better get that back up to full._

As such, Draga triggers his **Aura**.

It's only then that Draga actually gets a good look at his aura. Sure, he could have seen it last time, but he was distracted by the whole chasing after a motorcycle business.

All across his body, white light is coming off, followed by a brief glimpse of red, yellow, and black. Before he is allowed to think about it Thrak lifts him to his feet and points to the exit.

"Let's go."

In spite of his fear of the Orc, Draga declines.

"There's loot man. Let me get it."

Ah. Greed. The greatest of motivations to do something stupid.

"Let's go."

Instead of replying, Draga sprints around the room and stuffs the various items into his **Inventory** without a second thought.

 _I'll deal with it later._

Just as he fits the last item into his **Inventory** , Thrak grips the scruff of Draga's neck and hauls him through the tunnels into the next room.

For the first time since entering the cave, one of the caverns are completely dark. Even Thrak, with his vastly better night vision, can only see a few feet around. All they can tell is that after leaving the tunnel, they are walking down a slope along a wall down to the actual floor of the cavern.

Draga gets an idea. He can create electricity, and electricity casts light. Perfect. With totally intense and not at all really simple concentration, Draga casts **Electrical Storm** , a small spherical orb of electricity being created above their heads. Despite how dim it is, the vast contrast it has with the caves unbearable darkness allows Draga to see about 60 feet, and Thrak around double.

Unfortunately, they aren't the only things in the cavern that can see.

Still outside of vision range, something fires a flurry of arrows at the group, hitting Draga once and Thrak twice. The arrow pierces straight through Draga, dealing slightly less than 400 damage. The arrows in Thrak don't seem to hurt him at all, barely piercing his skin before stopping and not even causing him to bleed.

The attack does cause one fortunate thing, it cuts Draga's concentration on his spell, plunging them into darkness yet again.

While Draga holds back a cry of pain, Thrak speaks to him.

"Human, do you think they saw us not die?"

"Seriously dude? The spell cut after I GOT HIT WITH AN ARROW, so no."

Ignoring Draga's adverse reaction, Thrak moves closer to him.

"Stay still. I will handle them."

Thrak tears the arrow out of Draga's chest, the hole it occupied vanishing behind it, but dealing another 120 damage because of its barbed tip. He then jams the arrow into himself as far as the others went, followed by lying down on the sloped ground.

A minute or so passes, the slight echo of metal hitting stone getting ever so slightly louder every second that passes.

But before the sounds get anywhere close enough to trigger the trap, a giant fireball goes rolling into the darkness from behind them, blasting light in all directions before crashing into a group of seven armored warriors.

The single attack doesn't quite defeat them, as the front four blocked the fire for the remaining three, but their bows were all ruined.

The source of the attack becomes apparent a moment later when a new light source shows up: a flaming yellow glow of someone Draga couldn't help but think he knew somehow.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Bolt Ikamazu, The Dragon King**

* * *

 **Wow, how the time flies. This whole thing should be fairly memorable but with enough differences to make it interesting again. I also fixed every grammar mistake I came across, patched a few things I didn't like, and finished within just a few hours of starting.**

 **I guess that's the power of having the whole thing planned out perfectly, huh?**

 **Most of my chapters were basically a set of events I plan to happen that do, and it makes it a bit clunky, but this retread was being written in my head for the last 4-5 days now.**

 **Welp, hope you enjoyed. See if you can figure out the reasons behind everything as I'd love to have people theorizing like they do with TGWP. I mean, I leave so many Easter Eggs and foreshadowing things it's ridiculous, but nobody seems to point them out until it's too late...**

 **Come on, you can do this.**

 **I believe in you.**

 **This sentence is just here so the chapter reaches 12000 words.**

 **And for the first time ever, I bring you T2 Draga.**

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL13**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 30431  
**

 **Str: 9(22.437)**

 **Vit: 8(31.024)**

 **Dex: 11(27.423)**

 **Int: 50(166.2)**

 **Wis: 36(89.748)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:1**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL1 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+1 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL50 EXP: 0.00% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+177% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**


	36. Time-2

Draga wasn't allowed to stare gawmlessly at Bolt for very long as the man dashes through the air into the remaining crowd of three and severs their bottom halves from their top halves with just his outstretched arms.

As the energy surrounding Bolt dissipates, so too does light it emits, shrouding all but his ominously glowing red eyes in darkness.

And then we hear a woman's voice from above and behind.

"Bolt, stop terrorizing them."

Draga whips his head around, the ball of lightning reappearing at his side to allow him to see the second person he could swear he should know.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Valkyrie, The Glimpse Of The Void**

 _Fantastic. Another person that hopelessly outclasses me._

Draga lets out a long sigh, setting his back against the stone path once more. Everything had been building up by now and he was feeling more than a little overwhelmed.

His break was unfortunately ruined a moment later when Bolt yells at him from below.

"Hey! Shortstack! You owe me a window!"

Internally groaning, Draga pulls himself into a seated position with Valkyrie making her way slowly towards his back.

"I don't recall seeing any glass, much less breaking it. Please, enlighten me."

Yes, Draga was scared of them, but he could not give less of a shit at this point. Unfortunately, that very lack of tact was what got him into this situation to begin with.

"You broke it in the future, and I want my window. You don't have to pay for it now, but I am not leaving until my pockets are flush."

Turns out, back at the Sanctum Cafe, the cards he gave were all the lowest possible value, so he maybe payed for the work of removing the glass shards, if that.

Magic and bullet proof windows were expensive.

"Whatever floats your boat."

Draga falls back onto the ground, a small 'oomph' escaping his lips on impact. He'd stay like that a while, allowing Thrak, who was completely unaffected by the pairs intimidation tactics, to interrogate them about how to leave.

During his little break, Draga wasn't inactive; he was much too busy for something like that.

He was looking over his opposite of dragon hoard of loot, not that the things weren't valuable.

Out of 7 bosses, only 1 managed to escape without the loot mobile getting something, and the Hunter dropped two items, so all was well.

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **The user has attained understanding of the different energies within the world, and is able to absorb them from others. Each one has it's own uses, but all can be used as a supplement to MP with their own ratios.**

 **Actively steals a small amount of the target's essence. This affects all forms of energy within the target. Size varies based on the amount of power contained and the level of this skill. Once an energy is Siphon-ed, all effects apply as natural.**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **The user transfers mana into a material to give it life. It's stats are determined based on mana input and the used materials relation to those stats. More mana can be pumped in over the course of its existence.**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000**

 **The person is gifted in devouring his enemies. The user is no longer affected by cannibalism or eating the dead related diseases.**

 **One use per body.**

 **If activated the user's target is dismantled into its core components at a rapid pace and absorbed directly into the user's body. Any physical traits can be absorbed, but whether or not this occurs varies. Only functions on non-living targets.**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000**

 **The user has become adept in the ways of flight. They have achieved man's dream of reaching for the sky, and held it.**

 **Actively gives the user magic wings allowing flight at normal ground move. These can be hidden but while out have HP 100 and DR 10. If broken they will need 1000MP to be replaced. Replacing takes 3 seconds of concentration.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **The user can use Mana as a shield by making a barrier around themselves that shields the user and deflects damage.**

 **Actively grants 1% damage reduction.**

 **Actively deals 2% of damage that would be taken to attacker.**

And then there were 3 items.

 **Underarmor Chest: Mwindaji - A armor piece designed by the most paranoid of men. Increases flat DR by 100% from other sources and decreases the likelihood of being spotted while in poorly designed or dim lighting.**

 **Ranged: Sokota - A disc naturally created by the elder Vagrants. This thing has the durability of glass, but is incredibly sharp and fast with it. The way it's designed, the weapon can also release acid or poisons upon shattering into the creature. Thanks to the game, one of these can be found in your Inventory every hour, but this will stop if you ever run out.**

 **Head: Ogofya - The helmet of the grand warrior Providence. This helmet has a variety of effects, most of which rely on totems to be empowered. The abilities that can be used without them include a low level fear, a 3 second 800 DR buff with a 15 second cooldown, and the ability to empower a single movement every minute to have 400% increased speed.**

It was... Quite the harvest. Dragons trove it may not be, but it spoke of troves to come. For instance, **Spiked Shell** was pretty much useless now, but eventually it would have something resembling 100% damage reduction. Yes, it would reach 100% if it was linear, but the game couldn't be that unbalanced, right?

 _It probably could..._

Though, for now, the skills were a lot less useful than they appeared.

The best one, though, had to be the wings.

Draga triggered it the moment he read it, so he wasn't at all surprised when he looks up and sees a pair of blue semitransparent wings bobbing on slightly behind him.

 _Oh yeah._

Not only were wings awesome by their very concept, but these ones only had a cost when you used the ability rather than an upkeep system.

Draga kicks himself up and into a standing position, right near the edge of the cliff. The other three were obviously surprised, but Thrak seemed more so.

It probably had to do with saying he was an electromancer.

 _Eh. I can worry about it later. For now-._

He doesn't even bother finishing his own thought, instead thrusting himself into the darkness ahead.

* * *

 _I regret everything._

Draga dives to the side to evade another stomp of his enemy.

 _I regret leaving._

He leaps into the air and floats slightly higher than that to dodge a punch.

 _I regret not getting another trillion levels._

He flies into the force of yet another blow, reducing the kill worthy damage to only 700.

 _And most of all, I regret flying into the black._

Draga manages to recover from the attack in midair, floating as high and far away from the Hokori as possible.

 **[LVL39]**

 **Reisa**

It was only by the blessing of **Aura** and how his wings only broke when struck directly that the strange beast hadn't creamed him against the nearest stone pillar. Speaking of which, the cavern was so vast in both the X and Y dimension, the developers saw fit to create giant stone pillars to hold the ceiling up.

They didn't do much, apparently, since the Reisa had already broken three of them.

 _Actually, it could just be that I need to break a lot of them._

* * *

While that kind of thinking was typically rewarded, his wasn't. After effectively sprinting for his life for ten minutes or so and 12 pillars going down total, absolutely nothing happened. It didn't help that nothing he did seemed to hurt him, even splitting the Reisa's tendons seemed temporary at best with it's gross healing factor.

 _Ugh..._

Giving up on the prospect of beating it alone, Draga pulls up his map. While red dots littered the area, only 1 place had 3 dots being assaulted by many others.

 _And there they are._

Draga heads there at a pace the Reisa can keep up with, although not on purpose. The damn thing was around five times his size, so not even **Aura** was gonna let him outrun it.

"Hey, shithead. Why are you bringing more?"

 _Well, there's Bolt anyway. Was he always this much of an ass?_

Valkyrie and Thrak were obviously around, but, with his limited sight range, Draga couldn't see them.

"Bringing more? What do you mean?"

Bolt slams a fist into a nearby cat like creature the game identifies as a Pansa, blasting it off with a shatter spine and missing face. With his free hand, he whirls around to point out a path trailing behind the still chasing Reisa.

 _Oh._

Watching Bolt acrobatically flip through the air and repeat his previous maneuver with the substancially stronger enemy was not comforting when that person was evidently cross with you.

"Sorry?"

It wasn't very convincing when Draga was staring down the notification that he'd gained a level from the Reisa's death, which, to Bolt's none-Gamer eyes, appeared to be nothing but air.

"I have a few special words for you-."

He ducks under a leaping Pansa, crushing its underbelly with his knee mid-motion and landing with an easy backflip.

"... but, for now, we have a horde to kill."

His statement is expressed further when he starts glowing with fire, revealing the Valkyrie, who was wielding a black scythe Draga hadn't seen on her earlier, and Thrak, who was wielding the traditional Orc double axes with no effort, battling off the oncoming droves of Hokori.

It was odd, actually, that he'd only encounter Pansa and Reisa before this moment, since he was able to tell at least 12 different enemy types engaged with the two barbaric fighters.

And I mean that literally; they were fighting like barbarians.

 _Or Berserker, I guess. That's her title, after all._

Not that there was a whole lot of difference. Vikings were the forefathers of the Berserkers, but they could just easily be called barbarians by anyone that wasn't part of their heritage. I mean, it's not like they did a whole lot to detract from that reputation.

And then Thrak was the living embodiment of barbarian, tearing through the enemy with heavy swings and just soaking up all the punishment they could throw at him. Valkyrie at least had the sensibility to dodge most of the oncoming attacks, but Thrak just ignored them.

It didn't seem to slow him down, though, as he was raking in a higher kill count.

"Bring it on."

Draga sprints into the fray, flipping his swords out of his inventory as he does so. It wouldn't do to be unarmed when-.

BOOM!

 _What the hell was that?_

Draga pulls himself to a stop, turning around to the source of the explosion, only to find it was Bolt. Besides his martial arts techniques, it seemed Bolt knew some kind of magic.

After all, he just cast Fireball, and an explosive one at that.

 _I wonder if I can learn from him..._

Draga shakes his head to alleviate the thoughts for the moment. Good thing, too, since he barely gets his attention back in place before he has to dodge a Pansa lunging directly to where his neck was a fraction of a second prior.

While falling backwards, Draga spins his body to do two things with his swords.

1, slice open the exposed underbelly of that very Pansa.

And 2, pierce the ground to allow him to balance with it.

As the Pansa slides away, Draga hauls himself into a standing position by his grounded blade just in time to slide away from a charging bull like creature the game called a Ritoru.

 _I swear to god there weren't this many a second ago._

The thought is only exasperated a moment later when he has to roll along the ground to dodge a second one. Fortunately, the roll gives him just enough momentum to lift himself directly into a standing position again.

"Come on you nasty buggers."

It seems they either understood him or had planned to earlier, as both Ritoru slide to a stop and turn back to face him, both readying another charge.

 _I hope this works..._

Draga takes a heavy stance, preparing himself as well.

And then they kick off, dust blowing behind them as their hooves crack the stone beneath them.

 _Come on..._

Draga waits until they are less than a second away, although at their speed that's a fairly large distance, before finally launching his counterattack.

 _I am so going to regret this later._

The horns of a Ritoru are long and sharp, but their length is a weakness unto itself.

It provides a place to grip.

Draga pops **Aura** and the new single movement buff from Providence's helmet to leap into the air and past them, but, with a horn of each in a respective hand, the Ritoru's heads are lifted and thrown back.

The rest of their bodies are still going forward.

CRACK!

 _Oooh... I heard that._

Snapped necks were lethal, and it seemed the game didn't care about the minuscule HP damage the strike did naturally.

 _Sweet._

Knowing you could kill things relatively easy in the future was definitely a pleasant feeling, if one that called in to question whether the same applied to him. He'd yet to be impaled or anything, but it wasn't something he wanted to test.

 _And there goes the mood._

Draga sighs, looking out towards his allies who were still plowing through the seemingly infinite swarm of level 16-40 enemies. It was slightly depressing to know you're outclassed, but that just meant he had to get stronger.

 _Well, I have some skills to test out anyway._

Draga grips his previously slain Pansa, triggering **Consume** as he lifts it up.

 _That's just disgusting._

The active didn't make him taste the thing, which was nice, but the sight of what happened alone was terrible enough. The Pansa's body melted into a red and black goo before the stuff flowed into Draga's body through his skin and seemed to vanish. It wasn't until it was over that he even knew he was getting something out of it.

He had claws now.

Okay, that wasn't the only change, but it was by far the most obvious. Instead of nails, Draga had 3 inch razor sharp claws growing out of his hand. Other changes he could tell were his teeth getting sharper and his hair turning white.

 _Tet dammit; I liked my red hair._

And then the game butts in.

 **By consuming a creature significantly faster than you your Dex has increased by 1!**

 **By consuming a creature significantly stronger than you your Str has increased by 1!**

 _And that makes it worth it._

Getting stats was honestly more valuable than the claws since his swords already supplemented their presence.

And then they were gone.

Not the hair or his teeth, but the claws.

Draga looks down at them in confusion for a moment before he wills them to come back.

And they do, although they don't retract like normal people would expect. They are essentially consumed again.

 _Okay, that's cool. Claws that I control at will._

He tries the same with his hair, but to no avail. There was success with his teeth, though.

 _Of all the things to make permanent, the developers chose my hair color. Brilliant._

Draga shakes his head, but is forced out of his problems when he has to crouch beneath a incoming feral cat monster.

 _Fucking Pansa._

Draga replies to it's attack in kind, pulling out his claws and leaping after it. The slashes don't kill it, since it was only a body blow, but it was better than nothing. Of course, his swords were better than the claws either way.

Draga grips its wrists when it tries to attack back, using the leverage it provides combined with the Str and Dex bonuses from his still active **Aura** to shove the creature onto its back. While it only stays that way for a split second, it's long enough to gut it with his re-equipped swords.

Draga **Consume** -s that one as well, gaining an additional Dex but no bonus Str.

 _Hmmm... Are they that weak?_

He mulls over it for a moment before remembering the term 'significantly'.

 _What does the game count as significant?_

He had no idea, and he wouldn't get one, either. Why? Because screw Gamer's, lounging around with their epic super powers. Why not share some of them with the normal guys back home that write you being completely fu- I mean that worked hard for you back when you were the little guy.

Enough fourth wall breaking; there's an army that's being pushed back a little too slowly for Draga to like.

 _Do these guys tire?_

It honestly seemed like they didn't, which was both good and bad. Good, because it meant they could adequately defend him for ages, and bad, because it meant if he angered one of them he'd never get a quiet moment.

Draga shakes his head to get rid of the thoughts. Now was not the time for thought; it was the time for action.

With his swords in hand, Draga sprints towards the fight for the second time in the last 2 minutes.

* * *

 _God, these things really are weak._

With the exception of the three total Reisa's they'd come across, there was pretty much just a continuous stream of Ritoru, Pansa, and the strange two headed lizard the game recognized as Gen and Koka, the head with Koka above it being the one that exploded. Those things were child's play once he figured that out.

He'd managed to gain another 4 Dex total from the Pansa and Ritoru, and 2 Str from the Ritoru as well, and 1 Vit from the only Gen and Koka corpse that was still in tact when he got around to it. The three Reisa were very nice, however, granting him a Str, Vit, and Int each.

Seems they were pretty smart, since their base stats were apparently far above his own. This was still annoying, though, since the Reisa were able to keep up with him while his Aura was active.

Oh, I guess I should actually list all the changes, huh?

Well, here goes nothing.

The Pansa continued to grant him longer maximum claws, now stopping at a total of 15 inches. It didn't get any longer when he ate more of them, so that was probably the cap. His hair also became a even bright white, now surpassing that of snow.

Oh, and he had a tail now. That's probably important.

The Ritoru gave him little nubs on his head, theoretically horns if not for their embarrassingly short length. Fortunately, these were retractable.

The Gen and Koka, probably combined with the Pansa, gave him split eyes. This was also reversible.

And finally, the tops of Draga's hands were now coated in the same white armor of the Hokori, probably from the Reisa which had armored fists.

Speaking of armored fists, the horde only dropped a total of two items: gloves called Bakahatsu and Bakamatsu respectively. He easily noted that one of them was literally named explosion and the other was likely just a retread of the same thing.

Speaking of explosions, that was what they did. Besides the armor bonus and the 25% increased punching damage, they allowed you to expend either 10k or 10mil MP to create an explosion. He refused to even use the first effect because it was probably gonna backfire, so he could barely imagine what 10 million MP would turn out to be.

There were exactly four more differences, or rather one difference four times over.

Hey, 20 extra character points.

Draga settles down to recover his MP while looking at the mass of corpses and blood that covered the entire floor of the massive cavern. They had taken more than an hour to fully defeat, but overall it was worth it to Draga.

Whether it was worth it to everyone else was still in question.

"You guys okay?"

Ah, Bolt. What a caring young-.

"Oh, and you, shithead; you still only have a few screws loose?"

 _Oh for fucks sake._

"I'm fine, thank you very much."

It was said in a somewhat sarcastic manner, but Draga was genuinely grateful. If they weren't there, he'd have had to retreat all the way to the room with the 6 other bosses.

 _Hey wait, could I consume the Colossus? The ability only said none-living, not dead, meaning stone constructs aren't necessarily out._

Draga wasn't allowed to think on that line for very long, though, as the trio of far, far stronger people make their way to him.

 _Before I die, I need someone to play Game Over at my funeral._

The game helpfully provides.

 **Background Music enabled - Game Over, Falling In Reverse**

 _That works._

Draga closes his eyes, waiting for their punishment, but none comes.

When he tentatively opens them, he seems them all standing there with varying levels of anger. Thrak was outright pissed, steam literally rising off of his ripped muscles, Bolt was ticked, but more in a resigned way you'd expect someone who dealt with this shit for a long time to act, and Valkyrie was just leveling him a generally annoyed glare, but one with a little bit of none-anger related spark in it.

 _Well, she did seem to have fun out there._

Tet, you'd have to see it to believe. Valkyrie was basically flying through the enemy, scythe swinging wildly and cutting entire droves in half with easy movements. If this was he power he could expect from Bolt, not even a god could help him.

Fortunately, it seem-.

 _Ow._

That was literally the only thing Draga could comprehend as he's sent sailing backwards in a far less comfortable way that his flight allowed. His eyes barely even processed the Orc's fist effectively appearing inside Draga's face and blowing him all the way into the far wall.

And slightly into it.

 _Again: ow._

Draga collapses out of the crater, the pain temporarily putting him out. Fortunately, the game sees fit to spare him the permanently malformed face.

As he pulls himself back up, the other three are already above him.

 _Fantastic. They beat me in speed by a million miles too._

Draga internally sighs, but outwardly he smiles.

"Onwards and forwards?"

* * *

 **3000 views mother-truckers.**

 **So, guys, I have a question.**

 **What do you think of the change in writing style as representation of emotional changes? I think it's working out fairly well.**

 **So, here's Draga.**

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL13**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 33664  
**

 **Str: 15(37.8)**

 **Vit: 12(47.04)**

 **Dex: 17(42.84)**

 **Int: 53(178.08)**

 **Wis: 36(90.72)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 20  
**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:4**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL4 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+4 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 9.46% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5.12m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL51 EXP: 14.66% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+180% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL27 EXP: 6.46% MP:1000**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.69% MP:950**

 **140 HP and 20 DR wings.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **1% damage reduction and 2% damage reflection.  
**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**


	37. Time-3

**So... You may or may not have noticed the other stories getting a lot less chapters than this one, and I actually said I'd start working on the Infinity Paradox at the least, but...**

 **This might sound odd, but I don't want to. I have a plan for it, and I love the story and all it's parts, but I can't bring myself to continue it. If any of you want to adopt it or something, feel free to talk to me. A similar message will become the probably-last chapter I make for it.**

 **Sorry if you guys liked it, but my passion burns for the excitement of The Game, not the sort-of-not-really-revenge and greed induced plot of TIP.**

 **As for the other stories, with the exception of Minato's Folly which is actually complete as it is, I will start working on them after I stop burning with Gamer passion, so probably when this whole shabam is over. Thanks to the speed I am writing, my previous prediction of this story taking several years might actually be just around 1.5-2 years before it's completely done, just some odds and ends for side stories that I hadn't gotten around to by then to work on.**

 **I am working on More Fickle Things since that's just a different slice of the same pie. Unfortunately, those chapters are gonna take more work than these so they'll come less frequently. Hope that doesn't bother you, but the work going into them is far more complex since, for Draga's past at least, there won't be any combat to fill entire chapters.**

 **Like this one.**

* * *

The next room was far less interesting than the prior. While the rooms before all had interesting quirks and complex arrangements and enemy types, this room was a perfect cylinder cut out of a massive block of ice with absolutely no enemies.

Or so they thought until an enormous shadow of a silhouette loomed into the room through the wall, shortly followed by that very wall blasting into a veritable deluge of car sized ice blocks.

 _Welp._

The giant blocks of ice had minimal effect since Bolt, Val, and Thrak were all able to deflect or tank them pretty easily. Draga, being the fairly weaker one of the group, just sort of stands behind the titanic orc.

Speaking of titans, that's the only way he could describe what comes out a moment later.

 **[LVL 37]**

 **Lesintar, The Goliath**

Okay, the game had another way, but shush.

 _Hey, isn't that part of the All Is Dust quest?_

Understanding him, because of course it does, the game summons the above quest tab for him.

 **[Alert Quest]**

 **All Is Dust**

 **Go to the place Hokori are being summoned, and help exterminate the Hokori along the way.**

 **Bonus Objective: Defeat the Goliath yourself.**

 **Do you accept this Quest?**

 **Y/N**

 _Okay, it's a bonus objective, but still._

This was his first quest, and he'd be damned if he let anything pull him out of completing it. This whole area had the distinct brush of a difficult but fair tutorial, so it wasn't going to just completely screw him over, right?

 _Nevermind, of course it is._

Video games didn't normally rag on their players, but they needed ratings and popularity to make money. This kind of game, the ones made by gods, were almost definitely free and mostly pass off as entertainment for them.

At least, that was the most likely answer to what this whole thing was. Thinking the former god of play would do anything else was beyond crazy.

"So, are we gonna kill it?"

Rather than answer him, they merely affirm the unspoken agreement by blowing any and all projectiles they had at the things head.

Bolt shoots a fireball again, something Draga can see comes from his mouth this time, but the attack doesn't seem to even hurt the 24 foot tall behemoth. Valkyrie comes with more success, throwing her scythe at it's shins and having it boomerang back into her arms, but the cutting of where its tendons should be doesn't seem to affect Lesintar.

And then there's Thrak, the relatively puny behemoth with the double axes. Well, that's not quite true since both of those axes were currently seeping into the Goliath's eyes.

 _Tet, that's gotta hurt._

He was right, as many would expect, but it's nice of it to scream loudly to let him know.

Adding to the pain was the lightning, now shooting out of both Draga's extended palms, that use the weapons like a lightning rod to shock it internally.

 _Man, this thing is going to be easy._

Never tempt fate, or the universe, or whatever vindictive gods have taken your life hostage.

Now, Lesintar being able to essentially burst into flame and shoot the two axes out of his eyes by healing them fast enough probably wasn't Tet's fault, but he certainly let someone else design this nonsense.

 _Ugh..._

The Goliath roars as it stares angrily at them, passionate red eyes literally burning with its rage.

Passion? What passion?

Murder frenzy can be a passion. I don't discriminate.

Valkyrie, apparently not wanting to have anything to do with this things shit, just walks towards the exit without an obvious care in the world.

 _Okay..._

Fortunately, Thrak and Bolt are still on his side.

 _Or not..._

Thrak was busy running, although at least his retreat was to grab his weapons which were currently on the other side of the icy room.

Thank Tet for Bolt who was returning the bosses gaze.

 _Is a level 37 really a boss though? There were higher level Ritoru, although barely, and those things were pitiful._

As if in answer, it's level rises by one.

 _I just had to ask, didn't I?_

Lesintar attacks first, raising both its arms into the air and slamming them down at a speed many would think impossible for something so large. Then again, Bolt met the attack by creating something equally large in between the time it takes for the limbs to touch down.

The pair were now standing inside what looked like a samurai warrior skeleton made of black flames. If that sounds like a preposterous description, then you understand exactly what Draga thought about it.

Bolt, however, seems completely prepared for the ensuing battle, black swords made of thicker flames forming in the samurai's hands and swinging towards the Goliath's exposed sides.

The Goliath doesn't even try to block, it's attention focused on beating up the only thing it can even register as a threat in the room.

So, the swords make contact.

And stop.

The following thought was shared by the three people actually fighting (meaning not Valkyrie who was still just walking away).

 _WHAT?!_

Of course, that was for a collection of different reasons.

Bolt's were the most obvious, simply questioning how the Goliath was durable enough to take a pair of susanoo blades at the same time.

Thrak's were about why they were fighting without him, and then about how they were apparently weak too.

And Draga's had the most frightening reason.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Lesintar, The Goliath**

It had gained enough power that the game saw it as more than 50 levels above him.

Bolt reacts quickly, leaping backwards across the massive room and ending up beside the Orc barbarian. Draga was basically forced to come along by his technique as well.

 _And I guess I need to do something..._

Well, he had a few things to test anyway.

First on the list: **Siphon**.

Bolt was clearly using something besides Mana at this point. Literally nothing he'd seen the man used shared any relation to the abilities he had been provided by the game. Yes, he could probably recreate the shape of the samurai thing with one of his abilities, but it would be blue and definitely not transparent.

It also wouldn't be faster and stronger than himself.

 _Here goes nothing._

Draga sets a hand on Bolt's shoulder, triggering the ability with a mental command.

零 **1/44**

九 **1/44**

十 **1/44**

He had two new things on his status screen.

Oh, and two new pop ups as well.

 **Chakra Control (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Chakra is a collection of spiritual and physical energy created within all beings. Power was born from chakra, and chakra was born from the first power. Control of chakra is simply the first step towards becoming the second true power in the universe.**

 **Unlocks discovery and use of chakra based techniques.**

 **Allows manual casting of chakra based techniques even if not unlocked as a skill.**

 **Increases the generation rate of chakra by 4%.**

 **Infuse Chakra (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The generation of chakra is critical to an entire branch of powerful techniques, and you have learned a way to do it.**

 **Generates 1 normal chakra per second while not actively using it.**

 **Actively increases chakra generation from this ability by 101%, but only while used and still.**

 **Actively allows manipulation of chakra within the body of the user, but complex actions requiring being still.**

It was fairly confusing, but, since he could read simple Kanji (Thank Te- Sora for that), he could garner at least a little of what it meant.

零, or 0, probably referred to normal chakra, while the other two were higher forms. He had no idea what the hell 9 and 10 would mean in that respect, but it was likely a classification of power.

Speaking of power, there was a lot of it. It was **Aura** all over again, a rush of strength he couldn't even concieve of. It didn't even seem that Bolt noticed him using **Siphon** , since he didn't react in the slightest, which was good. If the ability stole a significant amount of power from him, he'd be in a ton of shit.

 _Welp, might as well get started._

He generated normal chakra, so he had some to work with, and Bolt should still be able to defend himself, so he had at least a few second to experiment.

How, you're probably asking?

The second one offered him control of chakra internally, and he had 3 types. What if he mixed them?

 _I should probably start with just two, to be safe. Don't want to risk any serious consequences._

All of that in mind, Draga sits himself down on the floor in the middle of a battlefield and starts sort-of-not-really meditating. Those adjectives were all there since Bolt decided now would be a good time to attack again, throwing himself towards the other side of the room with one really big sword instead, slightly more success coming as it pierces the Goliath's skin.

 _Can't watch, gotta pay attention._

Fortunately, Bolt saw fit to leave him on the other side of the room, so he was able to pull himself together long enough for the experiment.

And by the gods was it worth it.

This-

零 **11/44**

九 **1/44**

十 **1/44**

-was replaced with this.

零 **0** **/44**

九 **12/44**

十 **1/44**

The game was apparently horribly balanced since he could convert 1 point of normal chakra into the significantly stronger one.

How could he tell that, you might be asking?

Well, the power was literally bubbling over himself, something the normal one didn't do.

Oh, and the game brought it up. That's probably worth mentioning.

 **Chakra Cloak (Kyuubi-Ichi)**

 **+100% to all physical stats.**

 **-20% to all mental stats.**

 **90% reduction in costs for MP abilities payed for with chakra.**

 **Grants T1 chakra healing while active.**

It was... Beyond broken.

 _Oh-ho-ho-ho, this is gonna be fun._

Draga glances around, both examining his physical body for the subtle changes to his physique and the cloak itself to try and determine what it was. While he knew it was chakra, that wasn't helpful, and all he could figure out was that it had a tail and two large pointed ears. That pretty much narrowed it down, even within just the normal animal kingdom, to a good 15000 species.

Bolt moves out of the way just enough for Draga to get line of sight of the Goliath, although not on purpose. The Goliath was obviously stronger, although how such a thing was possible when the chakra was already empowering Draga to this extent was mind boggling.

But, despite that, it was all the opening he needed.

Draga blasts forward, not even relying on his still present newly-red wings to soar all the way across the massive area, and slams the newly owned Bakahatsu (right hand) into the bridge of the Goliath's nose.

BOOM!

The explosion blasts Draga back, sending him all the way back to the other side of the room and slightly into it. It was only thanks to the chakra cloak that he was still there, the bonus HP and DR provided by the Vit increase keeping him slightly alive.

And then healing it all back up in a second.

 _Holy shit... That's way more than I expected._

It wasn't enough, though. The Goliath was missing a head, but it's still present nameplate loomed over the only person who could see it like a ghost.

The damn thing was still alive.

People who didn't have the game were told that a moment later too as what could possibly pass as skin, muscle fibers, and bone sprouted from the newly made neck stump to form a brand new eyeless head.

Not that it was eyeless for long, though.

Those brand new crimson orbs held no rage, like they did a mere moment prior, only cold and threatening contempt.

It was far more terrifying this way.

Thrak didn't think so, though, as he leaps directly at the thing with both of his re-equipped axes swinging broadly in an attempt to lob off a limb.

There's a funny thing about opinions or what people think.

The universe doesn't give a shit.

The Goliath bats him aside like an insect, not even bothering to turn it's attention from Draga's eyes, or it probably was his eyes. It's hard to tell with the size difference.

Speaking of size difference, the Goliath seemed to have grown as well, the flames that buffed his silhouette doing little to detract from that.

Lesintar was truly something to fear.

 _And that's why I'm going to kill it._

He pauses in thought.

 _And the quest, of course. Rewards are nice; don't take them away because I have other reasons._

Draga returns the Goliath's stare, but it was mostly a way to delay the fight. As he could visibly tell, the game didn't require his seated position for the sake of 'still'.

Did I mention how awesome it felt to have the chakra cloak? Take a warm hug, and then give yourself incredible strength and perceptive speeds. Even that was merely touching the surface of it.

The staring match actually is cut off by Draga, who had already maxed out all the different kinds of chakra. The one marked as 10 didn't give him any status effects or cloaks like the 9 did, but it carried with it the feeling of strength and awareness he could barely dream of before the game.

It was odd the Goliath was cool with it, but the effects of waiting might not be obvious to him.

What the hell were the rest of them doing? Thrak was trying to take it's glare from Draga by returning it's own and Bolt was just chilling against a wall and waiting. Definitely testing.

 _This all reeks of tutorial boss._

I mean, what kind of normal boss monster lets you prepare as long as you want?

Draga shakes his head for a moment before springing into action, a similar dash to what he did earlier towards the Goliath, but towards his chest instead. Bosses with gross healing factors like that typically had some kind of core or physical vulnerability which could be used to kill it.

Technically, the game could simply drop its HP to 0 through enough attacks, but he could see that the things HP regen was as ridiculous as its physical regen.

 _It has to be beatable. Nobody would design the game like this otherwise._

Fortunately, his speed meant the Goliath had little chance to react before another round of Bakahatsu blew apart its entire upper body from the sternum.

BOOM!

And then it started healing as Draga flew backwards.

 _Of for fucks sake._

Draga's eyes come alight, his HP having maxed once again by this point. With a quick application of the active **Aura** , he should be able to tank his own next attack.

He punches it's still in tact spine with both arms, triggering the 10k cost for each gauntlet.

BOOOOOOOM!

The sound radiates around the room, only further enhanced by the acoustics of the ice walls bouncing it around repeatedly. Being deafened by the attack only added to the strangeness of visibly seeing the sound waves crashing around the place, knocking chunks off the walls and roof as well as cracking the floor.

Speaking of the floor...

 _The floor is melting._

That was more of an afterthought of him landing in a massive puddle that was coating it, but still. The explosion wouldn't melt, it'd evaporate, so something else was doing it.

It was pretty obvious by this point the no longer in tact Goliath was responsible, the heat associated with the fire coating it almost the entire time radiating around the room in a similar way to the sound, but not visibly.

Oh, and Lesintar was alive.

 _SERIOUSLY!?_

Draga returns the Goliath's original roar of anger, splashing water everywhere but effectively doing nothing, as he witnesses the discarded limbs of the Goliath meld into a new and complete body once again, quickly filling out to full size and full HP.

It's glare was colder than before, which was rather ironic considering he could barely see it's eyes through the fire.

"You two gonna step in to help any time soon?"

Draga of course meant Bolt and Val, but Thrak is the only one to reply.

"He cheats, healing from death. I cannot fight a man like that."

 _Of course he can't..._

Draga sighs, standing up from the now waist deep pool of water and summoning a new set of wings to replace his just broken ones.

"Well, let's get this over with, Lesintar."

He seems to understand, dashing forward to slam his relatively larger fist into Draga's body.

Of course, he doesn't let that happen. The Goliath just reaches the center of the room before Draga acts, launching himself at the ceiling. From the obvious vantage point, Draga takes off his gauntlet.

"What are you doing?"

Thrak, once again.

"Something I am about to regret."

Draga throws the thing down, something that would normally do absolutely nothing, except there was a lot of Chakra in there.

Just enough, actually.

Thrak turns to run, having seen the explosions that thing made and how Draga was perfectly fine being next to them normally.

That spoke volumes about what he wouldn't.

Everyone else just sort of watches, guard raised.

And boy, what a spectacle.

The nuke, that is.

* * *

 _FOOLISH HUMAN!_

Thrak sprints into the tunnel leading out, breaking through the walls to create a little cove to protect him from the explosion. Orc, he was. Immune to death was something he knew he wasn't, despite his power.

Unfortunately, he underestimate the power of Draga's magics.

The floor broke.

I mean that in more than just the cracks he'd seen form beneath the pool of water. The entire floor, including lurched suddenly before collapsing into the even larger cavern below.

It was almost in slow motion that the fall occurred, granting him just enough time to see the person responsible shoot himself upwards through the ice instead before the inevitable landing.

To his surprise, however, he was fine.

 _What?_

Thrak lets his senses flood back, the ones besides the encroaching horror that was his sight specifically, and notes that he weighed more than before.

 _Huh..._

It was also cold.

He looks down at his arm which was coated in a white armor he hadn't been wearing before. Equally confusing was the fact that he wasn't even on the ground, but floating slightly above it.

 ** _Greetings, my child._**

Thrak freezes, eyes searching for the source of the divine voice.

 _ **I am Gorum, your god; I bear a gift.**_

The armor glows, revealing the symbol of Gorum emblazoned on the chestpiece. The light fades, turning small parts of his armor to a pale blue.

Thrak tests the muscles in his hand, feeling no resistance from the cold material that enveloped almost his entire body.

 _Thank you, lord._

Nothing else was thought or said before the sound of a new crater forming alerted him to the presence of another.

* * *

Being blown up was the best way to describe it, but that would be misleading. Most people thought that would mean he exploded, but he was literally blown upwards.

And then downwards by gravity.

 _Oh gravity, you cruel mistress._

He'd have probably been able to save himself from hitting the ground at all if he reacted fast enough, but he didn't. As it stands, he was barely able to survive the impact by summoning his wings to slow him down and popping literally everything he could think of to resupply him with HP and durability.

With a grand total of 30 HP, Draga pulls himself up from the ground to look at the decimated landscape around him. The ice cavern had fallen almost entirely, pieces of the walls or ceiling managing to hold on to the significantly stronger stone above, meaning that very little remained of either floor now, a ice and powderized stone overly large room with nothing of interest.

His glance also showed something that was rather unfortunate: the Goliath didn't leave a corpse behind. It would have been pretty cool to gain the healing factor or flaming skin powers.

This floor obviously had genuine life in the past, since Draga could see several trees poking out from beneath their recent demise by falling cavern, but there wasn't anything alive that he could see besides himself, Bolt and Val in the distance within the samurai thing, and...

"Hi Thrak."

Standing directly in front of him was the Orc in question, wearing white and sky blue armor he'd never seen before and with ice wings shooting out of his back. They shouldn't be able to move like that, so their usefulness was questionable at best.

He's pulled from his examination by a fist entering his face, blowing him across the deserted landscape in a series of unintentional and horribly disorienting backflips.

 _Oh thank god._

His HP wasn't quite gone thanks to what he healed just prior to the attack.

He'd live.

And then his back slams against a block of ice.

Draga looks on in shock as the remainder of his HP fades into nothingness, his vision gradually losing color as it happens.

With the last bit of sense he has before the world turns black, he can hear Thrak say a single phrase.

"Don't do something stupid like that again."

 _I won't be able to._

* * *

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL13**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 33664  
**

零 **22** **/44**

九 **0/44**

十 **0/44**

 **Str: 15(37.8)**

 **Vit: 12(47.04)**

 **Dex: 17(42.84)**

 **Int: 53(178.08)**

 **Wis: 36(90.72)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 20  
**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:4**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL4 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+4 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 9.46% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5.12m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL51 EXP: 14.66% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+180% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL27 EXP: 6.46% MP:1000**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.69% MP:950**

 **140 HP and 20 DR wings.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **1% damage reduction and 2% damage reflection.  
**

 **Chakra Control (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 14.56% MP:0**

 **Unlocks all chakra effects.**

 **+16% chakra generation rate.**

 **Infuse Chakra (Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 13.61% MP:0**

 **Generates 2 chakra a second, increased by 102% when active. Allows chakra manipulation.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**


	38. Time-4

Thrak just stares at the location Draga was a mere second ago.

He'd survived explosions from point blank, an explosion that flooded the entire cavern and the tunnels beyond from only around 20 yards away, and survived the massive fall to the floor below.

All of that, and there wasn't a single scratch or spec of dirt on him.

Despite all that, a single one of his punches, and not even the hardest he could go, either, was able to make him just vanish.

Thrak's mind was still processing the look of abject horror on Draga's mind just before he fizzled from existence when he hears a heavy thud from behind him.

Reflexively, because his thoughts were still occupied, Thrak spins around and lands a roundhouse onto the head of its victim.

The person it was brought a rather heavy dampen to his already ruined mood.

* * *

Draga opens his eyes, panic still present in his body. He didn't feel the pain of the various injuries, which was good, but the dead weren't supposed to feel pain anymore.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

The shock of dying passes, allowing Draga to actually recognize his environment.

He was on a giant blue cube spinning slowly within the skies of Disboard.

Panic returns with a vengeance, but it fades just as rapidly when he notes that he wasn't accelerating downward.

"Ahem."

Draga turns his head to the source of the voice, only just now noticing Tet standing there, or rather floating a few feet in the air and upside down.

"I said 'You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?'"

Draga scoffs- genuinely scoffs- at the god before him.

"Ruin the dramatic entrance, there, didn't I?"

Tet's expression was all the answer he needed, but the annoyed deity doesn't seem to get the message.

"Yes, you did. Do you know how much effort I put into how I appear and disappear?"

Draga merely looks at him smugly with a raised eyebrow.

"Ugh... The number of headaches you've given me is the same as everyone else combined."

After taking a moment to collect his composure, although there wasn't much for the playful god to collect, Tet explains himself.

"You died."

 _Off to a lovely start._

"I made a deal with your previous self about gaining more lives, and I originally planned to discuss that with him after he was finished with Remnant, but that didn't work out and you wouldn't remember it anyway. Instead, I have to do that with you now since you have 0."

To punctuate that last bit, a big, fat black 0 hovers above Tet's head.

"So, what do you want to do?"

Tet sighs, pointing to a new number: 13.

Unfortunately, Tet cuts down Draga's optimistic first thought.

"No, that's not your life counter. Settle down."

Draga pouts, but it's clearly in a sarcastic manner. He was having fun, and he was at least getting another chance to continue.

 _Or I probably am... He's not gonna tell me I'm dead after all of this, right?_

"Okay. So, this is your current level. If we add your old level-."

The number jumps to 74.

"I am going to offer you 1 life every 50 levels, cool? That would put you at 1 right now."

Draga nods, but a dubious look takes over his face.

"I was level 13 when the fight with Lesintar started. Why didn't I level from killing him?"

Tet shrugs, apparently unaware of why that would be.

 _Fantastic. All that and I only get the quest reward at the end..._

Speaking of which, the question never said anything about what his reward for it would be.

 _It'd better be the rippling pecs of Christ himself for all that work._

"So, am I free to go."

Tet rubs his temples for a moment before waving him off, the movement sending his vision swimming into the inky black once more.

* * *

Slamming into the ground was less then pleasant, but at least he didn't fall the entire way this time. Now it was only about 100 feet of falling.

Unfortunately, he didn't react fast enough to activate anything before his face imprints itself in the moist soil below.

 _Hey, I got to confirm a scientific study. Water really does feel like concrete if you impact it while heading fast._

Draga pulls himself up, ready to continue his adventure, when something slams into the side of his head.

 _Of for fucks sake._

That was his only thought during the very brief flight achieved before he barreled through a particularly tall mound of ice and soil.

Draga waits for the pain to fade, eyeing his newly low HP.

 _I'm not gonna die again, am I?_

Fortunately, he didn't.

Thrak steps up to him, confusion evident on his face before it settles back into a distracted haze.

 _Man, I hope this crap works out._

Draga opens up all the different tabs he can, since they all closed when he died, and finds a few important ones.

Three, to be specific.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

Ah, 27/50 of the way to an extra life.

 _So... I got my levels after I died?_

It would be a good way to prevent him from suicide bombing something level 2000 or something to get those levels and extra lives, but still.

"Shall we be off?"

Thrak looks down at him, his eyes suddenly bring the world back into focus.

"Yes."

The armored hulk grips the scruff of Draga's neck and, sticking to that description, hulks his way over to the fading samurai construct.

Both Bolt and Valkyrie were exactly as a moment ago except for the settlement of dust on them from the obvious devastation around them. While Valkyrie kept up her air of arrogant cannot-be-askedness, Bolt was obviously a little annoyed.

"You are a fool."

Draga raises an eyebrow while gesturing to the relatively okay group of them.

"I think it worked out fine. We're all alive, and both Thrak and I are more powerful then at the start."

The Thrak part was fairly obvious, but they look at him a bit dubiously.

"Right... You still used the 10 tails chakra. Just having it in you connects you to the beast."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't have anymore then, right?"

Bolt sighs, obviously frustrated with him.

"That's not the point, Draga. Even if you used it all on the normal level, traces will remain with you. The chakra itself is dangerous since it can turn you to stone if you can't balance it properly."

Raising an eyebrow, Draga points something out to him.

"If it's only traces, and the beast isn't actually within them, I should be fine. Besides, I didn't feel any minor changes earlier when I had plenty of it, so I don' t think the traces are going to do a whole lot."

Bolt doesn't have an argument to that, but he issues a warning anyway.

"Don't take the chakra again. The beasts are not tools of power."

Draga nods.

"Onwards and forwards."

Draga spins around to search for an exit, seeing a total of two.

 _How to decide..._

While mulling about it for a moment, his vision blurs. It's not the normal one that fades to black, so he's actually more on guard when he suddenly sees himself within the room, but before the collapse, and see's Thrak- without his armor- running towards a tunnel.

 _What?_

He's not allowed to think about it was Thrak scoops him up in a firemans carry and brings him along for the ride, sprinting away from the Goliath he beat just a moment ago.

The vision ends once Thrak reaches a turn and the Goliath fades from sight.

 _What the hell was that? A flashback? A foretelling?_

After a moment he settles on flashback. He did have at least 1 other entire playthrough after all.

There was a bigger question, though, and one not so easily answerable.

 _Why would it show itself now?_

He'd asked questions his previous life should have been able to answer multiple times, but this was the first time anything had happened. Something might have changed when he met Tet, but wouldn't he say something?

In search of answers, he opens the Save Menu...

And finds this.

 _ **Disboard - Throne Room/Imanity 22:5:51:6:12:18:0**_

 **Emalgam - Enchanted Cave 22:5:3:6:12:19:6**

 **Remnant - Eternal Skies 23:8:2:4:9:15:59**

The Remnant save wasn't grayed out anymore.

That was... Oddly useless, actually. If his old self considered it worthwhile to go all the way back to when he started, it was probably a really shitty place to be. And, according to the time listed, that Draga had a year and three months more time to prepare and get powerful.

 _Probably best not to go there..._

Regardless, he had seen an exit.

Draga leads them onward with confidence in his step.

Until he's forced to stop because getting Thrak to follow him after all of that was like trying to herd a particularly dim clowder of cats.

 _Ugh..._

* * *

After a while, the three managed to convince Thrak to continue onward.

And then there was a maze.

"Fabulous."

For once, it wasn't Draga sarcastically complaining, but rather the voice of Bolt genuinely complementing the maze.

"What do you mean?"

Bolt smiles, turning his head to face the Gamer.

"This maze has multiple paths, I can count 8 of them in total, and I can't see a single trap or monster. This must be incredibly well built."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. You can see through the maze?"

Bolt rolls his eyes, bringing attention to their abnormalities. The pupil was normal, but a triangular shape shone within the iris and had spokes that curved out and across the surface of the eye itself until they left vision.

Definitely weird.

"Well, yeah. How else would I know there are 8 paths?"

He picks one at random and sets out, leading the group through the winding and confusing maze.

* * *

 _Well... That was anticlimactic._

The entire maze took around 5 minutes to complete and everyone in the group was tense for the entire time, just waiting for a trap or monster to come out of nowhere and tear their heads off.

No such thing, though.

Unfortunately, it seemed he game wasn't quite as merciful everywhere as that hallway.

The next room was blocked off by a massive spider web, the strings of which were so large nobody would even begin to think nothing would notice it.

Then again, things were crazy down here. Why would anything have to obey common sense?

Despite the many displays of power the group had shown by this point, Thrak was seemingly nervous about the room. Now, nervous needed a little bit of context. Even in the flashback, when they were sprinting away from the giant flaming Goliath, Thrak was perfectly calm.

At that rate, nervous must have been shitting himself terrifying.

"Spiders..."

 _Oh yeah... I can see that. He's probably not entirely poison resistant and fantasy spiders are typically very large and venomous._

Well, it seemed the spider in question wasn't there, so it should be fine.

Boy, what a way to tempt fate.

The floor collapses, a giant spider leaping out of the ground and trying to devour Bolt's leg.

It instantly regretted it's choice as fire washed over it and a few giant holes appeared in it's flesh.

 _Ooh..._

Draga didn't even have time to read the nameplate before it was already gone, fading into nothingness along with the majority of the dead spider.

But not all of it.

One use of **Consume** later, Draga was sitting on an extra Dex and Wis.

 _Can I only get 1 in a specific stat point per use?_

It made sense, honestly. Just as he shouldn't be able to get a few hundred levels from killing a level 2000, he shouldn't get a ton of stats from absorbing a really powerful enemy. It would only cause power creep.

 _I might actually have to take back what I said._

There weren't any other obvious differences; no hair changes, no second joint in his legs, no new limbs forming, and no extra eyes. It honestly seemed like it was just the stats.

Rather boring, for this game at least.

Not a word was spoken since 'spiders' before they were already on their way out, having effortlessly defeated the only enemy in the room and not even getting any real rewards from it. Yes, the stats were nice, but they were also finite and small.

Skills, equipment, and powers held far more promise.

* * *

 **Since I was gonna do a quick skip to the next room anyway, I figured I'd do a brief glossary section here.**

 **Skill: A skill he unlocks that has the power to level up. Ex: Pale Lightning**

 **Powers: Things that start at LVLMAX and grant him finite but awesome things. Ex: Gamer's Body**

 **Traits: Things like his horns or claws; things that don't register within the game system itself but are abilities unto themselves. Ex: His claws.**

* * *

The entire part was instantly put on alert by the portal within the next room, obviously suspicious of it. Their blatant thoughts were rewarded when Draga is pulled towards it by some inexorable force.

 _The tutorial ending?_

Unfortunately, Valkyrie had other plans. As her first act that showed anything but bloodlust or boredom, she essentially vanishes from place, reappears with a hand against the portal, and disperses it entirely in a blast of purple particles.

The pull goes away...

And Draga falls on his ass.

"Ow."

Valkyrie raises an eyebrow, silently daring him to say something. Not being a complete idiot, Draga's mouth clamps shut with the force of an industrial piston.

"Our task isn't over. Draco mentioned there being 40 floors, and this is only number 29."

...

...

...

 _What?_

Draga continues to just stare for a moment.

 _We're not done?_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _THERE'S MORE!?_

Draga slams his head into the ground, providing a much more satisfying version of a facepalm.

When he pulls his head back up, he sees a trio- nevermind, Thrak was busy looking wistfully onward- of curious looks.

"Hey, don't look at me in that tone of voice."

Not his best moment.

Draga rises from the suspiciously comfortable ground to forge into the unknown... Again.

Yay.

* * *

 _Why does this shit keep happening?_

The cave didn't seem to follow any logical pattern. Thus far, most of the rooms had many at least slightly varied challenges.

This one just had an even larger spider.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Komorah, The Ancient Vilemaw**

It wasn't just an ordinary giant spider, he supposed. This one was significantly taller relative to arm size.

Oh, and could shoot giant webs out of it's face, something it was currently doing.

Unfortunately, it chose the wrong jinchuuriki to face, and suffered a fate almost identical to that of it's predecesor... Or was it an offspring of it?

 _I have no idea._

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

The gigantic net like structure of webbing was met with an equally large wall of fire that tore straight through it and onto the beast behind it. While Komorah doesn't die straight away, there was little it could do to stop the melting of it's HP.

 _This is seriously disappointing, even for a tutorial section._

Draga sighs, looking for loot around the melting puddle that used to his enemies body, but finds an unfortunate lack of items.

 _Shit! I forgot to even enter combat with the thing._

It died too quick.

He hangs his head, preparing to trek to the next room, but is stopped by a hand on his shoulder. When he turns to face the person in question, he is quite perplexed.

And terrified, but that's normal when you see something infinitely more powerful than you.

 **[ERROR]**

 **Draco Murdock, The Glimpse Of All**

Even besides the game being literally incapable of calculating his level, there was his appearance to consider.

The man was easily 6' 8" tall and with his spiked pale blond hair reaching several inches above that. Adding to his air of hugeness were the massive wings, even outreaching Caelem's in terms of overall width with a total of 14 feet in wingspan.

Speaking of wings, the wings were black and red. Or rather, they were black with blood stained into them. Even stranger than that were the joints, and I say joints because there were multiple of them, all appearing to have jagged blades sticking out of them.

Sticking to his theme of black, the man's skin was the kind you'd expect from tar or a lightless room, only broken up by purple runes tracing arcane scripts into his body. Adding even more black to the guy was his clothing, including solid black pants and boots and a overly large trench coat with a dark blue trim.

He didn't even stop decorating himself there; a really small black dragon was sleeping around his neck.

The only two things that detracted him the black were the aforementioned pale hairs sticking up from his head and his eyes.

His eyes were best described as TV static.

Overall, not something you wanted to encounter in the middle of a combat dungeon.

Draga leaps backwards, sliding to a stop a good 10 paces away.

"What are you doing here?"

The man doesn't speak, which seems out of place, until Valkyrie answers for him.

"Essentially, every 10 floors we get a chance to leave the cave. He's simply offering that now."

Draga nods along, seeming to understand, until he suddenly shoots upwards.

"Wait! I'm done? I can leave?"

Draco nods once, his smile showing off sharpened teeth.

"Sweet. Should we be off, then?"

Bolt grabs his shoulder for a moment.

"We're sticking together, mate. You still have a window to pay for."

 _And I have to get a job... Hooray..._

Draga sighs, but gestures forward in a way that implies moving on.

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?"

Thrak interrupts, though.

"You can return me to where I was, yes?"

Another nod.

Thrak's face contorts in a way Draga didn't even think was possible.

He smiles.

A genuine content smile, one that shone true happiness upon the Orc's otherwise oppressive and rigid face.

It seemed out of place, but he doesn't seem to care as he returns Draco's nod.

Draco moves his head down as if to nod once more, but it stops at the bottom of the movement. When his head finally returns to it's original location a moment later, his eyes were alight with a purple glow.

It wasn't spoken, but a single sentence was heard by everyone there.

"Welcome to Omni, where everyone is possible."

The second the words registered within Draga's mind, everything suddenly became too bright for him to see.

Despite the unknown, despite the fear within him, and despite the pain he felt from the overly bright light- _Seriously, that hurts-_ Draga was comforted by it all.

He was finally free.

And then the world decides to screw with him by showing a pop-up while the world seemed to be a perfectly uniform purple.

 **[Quest Complete]**

 **All Is Dust**

 **Objectives:**

 **Locate Hokori summoning location: +**

 **Kill the Hokori: +  
**

 **Bonus Objectives:**

 **Kill the Goliath: +  
**

 **Continue past the Hokori summoning location: +  
**

 **Rewards:**

 **Story Segment Completion**

 **Unlocks Basic Class Choices  
**

 **Enables Money Dropping**

 **Permanent Increase To Item Drop Chance**

It was hard to read through the blinding light, but it at least gave Draga something to pay attention to other than the sickening lurches he felt as space seemed to distort around him.

It was good he didn't eat anything, otherwise it would be missing by now.

What a great way to be introduced to the universe.

* * *

 **Hey, guys. This chapter is a bit shorter than most, but I think you can see why I stopped here.  
**

 **Can't delve into everything without an assholish cliff hanger, can I?**

 **Actually, that's not the only reason. I've been assigned with writing the lore for Sanctum Cafe for Wrealms, and that unfortunately takes priority.**

 **Speaking of which, come join me on Wrealms, I'd love to RP with you guys.**

 **To answer the most recent review on whether he remembered things, no he doesn't. His saves have a bit blurry edges due to how souls work, but otherwise he started over.**

 **Onwards and forwards.**

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL16**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 33664  
**

零 **5** **4** **/54**

九 **0/54**

十 **0/54**

 **Str: 15(37.8)**

 **Vit: 12(47.04)**

 **Dex: 17(42.84)**

 **Int: 53(178.08)**

 **Wis: 36(90.72)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 35  
**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:4**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL4 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+4 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 9.46% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5.12m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL51 EXP: 14.66% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+180% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL27 EXP: 6.46% MP:1000**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.69% MP:950**

 **140 HP and 20 DR wings.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **1% damage reduction and 2% damage reflection.  
**

 **Chakra Control (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 14.56% MP:0**

 **Unlocks all chakra effects.**

 **+16% chakra generation rate.**

 **Infuse Chakra (Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 13.61% MP:0**

 **Generates 2 chakra a second, increased by 102% when active. Allows chakra manipulation.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**


	39. Reason-1

**I just checked. I am the lead in No Game No Life fics length by over 150k words, yet I am fourth in reviews and not even on the first page in favorites or followers out of less than 100 stories.  
**

 **What the hey-hey. Was my intentionally boring writing in the first section really that awful? Do I need to completely undermine the entire point of its quality just for the reviews?**

 **Probably not, but it's an important point to make. Most of the complaints I've gotten are based on the writing style of just being confusing, which I do because of the writing style.**

 **So, that whole shibbam in mind, I have a question for all of you.**

 **Should I completely rewrite Introduction to Sanity-11 or should I leave the intended artistic integrity intact despite the problems it poses.**

 **I have no idea, hence why I am asking, so I'd appreciate the feedback.**

* * *

The party collectively fall on their backs, the only exception being the snarkily smiling demon floating above them.

Not even sparing him the attention to get annoyed, Draga looks around at the building around them. It seemed they were inside of a tavern of sorts, one that was both spotless and rundown at the same time.

That didn't make sense, so he reviews exactly why those fit.

The floor seemed to be polished oak, completely dirt free even around the previous dungeon divers. That immaculate condition continued onto the counter, the walls, and even the ceiling.

Unfortunately, that didn't cover up the damage. Some of the white paint was stripped away from the walls and a plethora of indents and scratches littered the entire room. Stairs behind the bar led to another floor both up and down, but that led to the second big problem.

It was really dark in there. A few candles sat in strategic positions around the room, but they did little to remove the grim atmosphere.

Honestly, the most bizarre thing was the lack of patrons. A building this immaculate should have tons of effort poured into it, and Draga expected at least a few people to show up.

"Where is everyone?"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say as Draco's expression darkens.

How he managed that while his head was pretty much entirely black to begin with was beyond him.

"It's just me; Bolt, here, opened his own establishment a few months ago..."

He leaves the rest unsaid, but the implications of it were out there. It was kind of hard to miss Bolt's cringe and Val's dismissive roll of her eyes, even if they could potentially have been about the raspy hoarse only a truly cynical man could describe as a voice.

There was a bit of a problem here, even beyond the obvious ailment befalling the demon.

"Why don't you just join them, then? I assume they could use someone as dedicated as you working there."

Based on the expressions each of them gave, he could garner that the attempt for this had already met with catastrophe.

It's only then that he realizes Thrak was missing.

"Wait... Can you teleport to multiple places at the same time?"

If so, that would be quite the ability. Unfortunately, he doesn't answer that. Instead, he clears his throat and tries to start up a new conversation.

"So... Who wants a drink?"

After a moment of silence, Draco shrugs and heads off to grab one for himself.

"Right. You be off, then. I have work to do."

With a white bottle in hand, Draco strolls through a door into what looks like an office from the momentary view Draga was given.

Silence reigns for a moment longer before Bolt shatters it into a million pieces.

"So, Drag, what are you gonna do?"

...

...

...

Draga looks at him, anger evident in his narrowed eyes.

"What did you just call me?"

Bolt raises an eyebrow at that, clearly both confused at the aggression.

"What? You're fine with everything else I called you but dropping a syllable from your name is suddenly a horrible tragedy?"

Draga shakes his head, trying to alleviate a misunderstanding.

"My bad. Drag is an insult from where I am from."

Bolt nods, accepting that, but then his eyebrow quirks once more as he crosses his arms in front of him.

"Where are you from, anyway?"

Draga laughs once, looking at him incredulously.

"That's easy. I'm from Dis-."

Draga stops mid-sentence, realization spreading on his face.

* * *

Tet stands before him in the skies of Disboard, a mischievous smile adorning that normally adorable face.

"You were reborn into this world, but I guess you shall be reborn again."

* * *

He freezes, processing it over and over for a moment.

 _It... It can't be, right? I don't remember anything before Disboard... But that doesn't mean..._

He looks up to the sky, an indignant frown marring his features.

 _I'm not from Disboard._

That one fact alone had terrifying implications, but it represented something else as well.

His parents might still be alive.

Far too busy to handle everything at once, Draga raises a hand to halt their questions.

"I... I don't actually know. I was raised on Disboard, that much is certain, but..."

His face was more than enough information to finish for him.

"Right... I'm gonna leave you be, let you have your mental breakdown on your own; I'll be back in an hour or so."

While Bolt heads off upstairs, Valkyrie follows after Draco into the office, a muffled discussion of some kind ensuing.

Honestly, Draga couldn't really care. He had more than enough questions, and a certain god was gonna answer them.

Draga pulls himself off the wooden stool, his legs carrying him towards the office Draco was within. It hadn't been that long, but he had a home to visit. Hell, he could probably pay off that debt with his dragons horde of money raked in from the many tournaments he participated in while he's there.

The wooden door slams loudly into the wall, the sound accompanying the confident entrance of the no-longer redhead.

And then his dramatic entrance is ruined in an epic fashion by what he walked on, or rather the lack of what he walked in on.

Nobody was there.

"Oh come on!"

As if on cue, Draco rises up from the floor like a ghost: seeming to just go straight through it from below.

"Yes?"

Draga sighs, his hand coming up to rest his head.

"You're annoying, you know that?"

From the smile plastered on his face, that would be a yes. Unfortunately, Draco is nothing if not a coy little demon phoenix... god... angel... THING.

"Whatever do you mean?"

Draga doesn't even attempt to tolerate the antics, but he wasn't really offered any way to return the favor either. It was best not to anger someone who is not only the most powerful person you've met, with the possible exception of god himself, who you are also asking for a favor.

"It's nothing, sir."

Saying that last part left a little bit of a sour taste in his mouth. He wasn't accustomed to authority figures as the world he lived in for most of his life was ruled by skill and knowledge, not might. In that realm, none truly held themselves above him far enough to command anything.

Just another thing that had changed, he supposed.

"So, I figure you came in to request something of me?"

Despite the calm air those words may lead you to think, he actually seemed slightly concerned. Not about Draga, Tet no, but like he was anxious about getting somewhere.

"Yeah."

After taking a moment to gather the breath he still didn't realize he didn't need, Draga faces him down.

"Take me to Disboard."

It wasn't a request; it wasn't a prayer.

It was a demand.

Draco smiles, his anxiety from a moment before vanishing.

It was a smile of sadistic pleasure, or perhaps one born from schadenfreudia? Who could say which.

There wasn't much difference either way.

"Have fun."

Based on the expression that was maintained effortlessly over the few seconds of purple coverage, it'd be an insult not to guess something was going to go horribly wrong.

* * *

 _Huh. This is rather nice, actually._

While the room he was in wasn't falling from the sky with him, it would almost be a solo recreation of Sora and Shiro's entrance to this world.

"WHOOO!"

Draga dips and dives around, doing various acrobatic flips and the likes, savoring every moment.

Unfortunately, there was a floor to worry about, so he had to cut it short with his wings.

 _I don't think he knew I had them._

It would make sense; the wings had blown apart when Thrak kicked him earlier, not being summoned until this moment. How would he have seen them, should he know? It wouldn't really fit.

Regardless, Draga stops falling in a gust of wind just above the soil of some mountain range. A quick glance at the towering chess pieces in the distance tells him where he is: Werebeast territory.

 _Fabulous._

Draga flies back into the air, though only a hundred feet or so, not the effectively space levels Draco decided was prime sky diving material. From the much better viewpoint, he tracks down the kingdom he called his home.

* * *

 _Huh... Less attention than I thought._

Draga had landed in the middle of the castle courtyard, wings in their full glory, but nobody more than glanced at him.

It was... Well, not unwelcome; attracting vast attention was not the point of his landing, but it made him question why they would be so lax about it.

Draga looks down upon himself, making sure there wasn't something innately disinteresting about him, but nothing came to mind. He looked almost like a flugel, really, except for the eyes of course, so that might skip a lot of their focus, but people usually gawked at the angelic creatures.

He'd know; he'd done it many times, although, to be fair, she'd been mostly naked the majority of the times it happened. Kind of hard to ignore that, being a teenager at the time and all.

 _Whatever happened to Langit anyway?_

Something to investigate later, he supposed. There'd be plenty of time after he met with Sora, Shiro, and a certain god who had some explaining to do.

With that in mind, Draga steps inside the massive gated entrance...

Only to instantly run into someone, tripping over her form but managing to catch himself with his wings before the obvious cliche accidental groping happens.

Looking down at her from a few feet above, Draga frowns.

 **[LVL16]**

 **Stephanie Dola, The True Steph**

"Once a Steph, always a Steph."

Her previously shocked face turns to one of extreme anger mixed with a little bit of something else. Trying to decipher what that lingering emotion is would be a waste of time, though, as she was far too expressive to hide anything important.

"Well excuse me, flugel; I didn't know I wasn't allowed to walk around my own castle."

In reply, Draga smirks.

"Oh please. It's more my castle than yours."

Her fiery anger burning out just as fast as it came, she tilts her head in confusion.

"Draga...?"

The Gamer in question replaces his smirk with a genuine smile.

"Long time no see, Steph."

Her face only gets even more confused before it suddenly reverts to what would probably be considered a normal face on anyone else.

"Draga?"

Floating slightly further up in the air to allow her to get up, Draga nods smugly.

"In the flesh."

As she pulls herself up and into a proper standing position, she apologetically bows her head.

"I'm sorry, Draga. I can't really be blamed for recognizing you if you changed this much in just a day."

Draga nods, but his thoughts stop on that final word.

 _Has it really only been a day? It feels like I've been wandering that blasted cave for ages._

It was certainly possible it was a day, with his inability to see the sun and all, but that was a lot to go through for just 24 hours.

"Right, right. Don't worry about it."

Glancing around to check for anyone else to slam into and finding none, Draga sets himself down on the polished floor.

"So, are you looking for the snakes?"

Draga laughs once, his smile growing slightly wider.

"I believe I said not to call Sora and Shiro snakes; it's disrespectful..."

His smile grows even further.

"... to the snakes."

Steph returns his smile with a light-hearted laugh, enjoying the poke at the siblings.

"Yeah, yeah. They're in the library."

Draga looks at her incredulously.

"The library? Why would they be there? I'm positive that at least Shiro has read every book there."

Steph can only reply with a shrug.

"No idea."

Something seems to click in her mind as her face turns to one of terror before she sprints off into the distance, loudly muttering an excuse about some meeting she had to attend.

As excuses go, it was a pretty good one.

Following her directions, Draga makes his way to the library for a showstopping entrance.

Draga shoves open the doors, the sound of both the opening and the subsequent slam into the walls getting the pair at a tables attention.

"Honey, I'm home."

 **[LVL46]**

 **Sora Nai, The Second Watson**

 **[LVL58]**

 **Shiro Nai, The Taihu Light**

Shiro only nods, recognizing him by his voice without even looking up, but Sora was always the more expressive of the two anyway.

Sora hops to his feet from the lounge chair he was seated in, eyes tracking the white hair individual carefully. He knew Draga's voice as well and he didn't doubt Shiro's instincts, but the differences were pretty startling.

Then again, he had just played a game with Tet, so what was he to complain about some obvious visual changes like wings, fangs, monstrous eyes, and bleached hair and skin. I mean, those were totally normal.

So, instead of watching him with deep rooted suspicion, Sora grabs Draga's outstretched hand and pulls him into a manhug.

"Good to see you."

While he never said it, Draga liked to think there was a ', man.' at the end of that sentence.

"Same here."

After the two back-pats, they split up, giving Sora some time to examine Draga properly. After a few seconds of being held still from his shoulders and just watching Sora take different view points, Draga stops him.

"Yes, I am different now. Can we skip straight to the obvious dialogue and references."

Sora seems to pout at that, clearly annoyed with him.

"What? Did I ruin the moment?"

He doesn't even justify that with an answer, but his face gives away the answer.

After a while of just standing in silence, Sora sighs and quotes a meme instead of the originally planned Bruce Campbell reference.

"This is why we can't have nice things."

Draga brushes past, patting his shoulder to show his support.

"I know... I make everything better than that."

That said, he makes his way over to Sora's chair and plonks himself down in it.

Man, the people who advertise these chairs should be fired. They sell them on secondary features, like the ability to recline, instead of the massive comfort they offer normally. Why? Who the hell knows.

Unfortunately, it's ruined a moment later when the chair folds up and crushes him against his legs.

"Well, that's not very nice."

Despite the muffle effect, Sora seems to hear him quite well.

"Yeah, so is stealing my chair."

Despite the snarky attitude present in his voice, Sora is smiling genuinely when the chair releases Draga from it's clutches and is immediately taken by the aforementioned redhead.

"So, why are you back? I thought your wish was to play an amazing game for the rest of your life."

Draga chuckles to himself, taking a seat on the edge of the likely antique table.

"Yeah... About that."

With the free about 5 seconds of stalling he has available, he throws every word he can to pull up the party menu into his thoughts.

Fortunately, the first one did it.

 _Party._

And there it was.

 **Party Menu**

 **Current Parties:**

 **None**

 _Okay..._

He mulls it over for a moment.

 _Party Create - [_]_

 **Party Menu**

 **Current Parties:**

 **Blank - Draga Konungur**

Not the greatest of names, since he couldn't just have nothing there, but it was good enough.

 _Party Invite - Sora Nai._

That seems to do the trick, if Sora actually looking surprised is any indication. I mean, it was pretty hard to surprise either of them.

Draga had witnessed Shiro get surprised exactly once, and that was because we held her birthday party exactly 39 days early.

She'd expected 38.

Sora was far more likely to be caught that way, but it wasn't something he'd just do to get at him. Being surprised was a sign of weakness, or some shit, so he obstinately refused to display it whenever possible.

Yet here he was, not quite falling out of his chair.

"What the hell is that!? Did you learn magic?"

Draga's chuckle kind of gives the answer to that away, but he had to elaborate anyway.

"What happened to urban legends and the most boring answer being the correct one? Holograms? I got somebody else to use magic?"

Sora chuckles, a smile creeping up on Shiro's face as well, though she does try and mask it with a book he knew she'd read before.

"Please, we might be fallible humans but we aren't morons. We know you."

He pauses for dramatic affect.

"That, and we have a constant eye on any uses of magic. The 10 rules still apply, after our victory, and the world is largely peaceful, but espionage will always have its value."

That was... Very unhelpful, to say the least.

"Wait, you have people monitoring magic use now? It's been a day! Who the hell would even be available for that?"

As if on cue, Jibril floats into the room in her usual attire.

Not that it wasn't an interesting sight to see, I'll tell you that.

Shame, though, that she was hundreds of years old and a dangerous psychopath...

 _We must all have our limits._

His was at the psychopath part, since all of his girlfriends had been effectively world ending horrors compared to his level of power.

"Hey, Jibril. Are you the one Sora hired for the magic detection?"

She nods, but her attention is obviously taken by his appearance. Unlike Sora, whose gaze was slightly offputting, Draga just lets her examine him and returns to his previous conversation.

"So, you gonna accept?"

Sora seems to mull over the question for a moment, a short one at that, but his decision is made as his finger taps the **Y** button.

A few pop ups appear for him, such as his profile and one describing what the system can do, but he also gains the ability to see the veritable cloud of curved pop ups slowly spinning around Draga in what, to him anyway, can only be described as a slow motion maelstrom.

"Doesn't that get in the way?"

Draga shrugs.

"The game system is fairly intuitive. It basically listens to my thoughts and does what I want. There are limits, obviously, or I'd already be Tet level in power, but these tabs move away at will."

To show him, Draga imagines them being out of his line of sight, and they quickly spin around him to his backside.

"See?"

Sora nods, glancing towards Shiro who was still feigning disinterest.

"Invite her too."

 _Party Invite - Shiro Nai._

She doesn't even seem bothered by it, pressing the Y button without as much as a glance.

 **Party Menu**

 **Current Parties:**

 **Blank - Draga Konungur, Sora Nai, Shiro Nai**

Shiro had a lot more tabs open than Sora did, but still significantly less than Draga did, so he didn't question it. The game's done crazier stuff before.

"Sora, can I see your profile tab?"

He tries flicking it over, but it just causes the bent rectangle to spin around him pretty quickly, not even slowing down.

"Come over here."

Once it's stopped by a finger on it, and Draga is sitting on the arm of his lounge chair, the aforementioned Gamer gets a perfect view of it.

 **Name: Sora Nai**

 **Class: The Player**

 **Title: The Second Watson**

 **Level: LVL46**

 **HP: 500**

 **Str: 14**

 **Vit: 10**

 **Dex: 21**

 **Int: 104(156)**

 **Wis: 142(284)**

 **Luk: 38**

 **Points: 0  
**

 **Height: ?**

 **Weight: ?**

 **Money: 9591050.0195 Gold**

The only real surprise was the Dex stat. With how inactive Sora was, how he was more than the average human in that way bewildered him.

Then again, this was a fantasy world to begin with. I mean, he had 14 Str too, which was above average. Most likely, the average was simply different here.

That Wis stat, though. Whew... He had a lot of catching up to do.

"Nice, nice. If you had a class with magic potential, I'd say do that, but I don't think joining my party is going to change you at this moment. For instance, you don't have MP."

 _Speaking of classes, I still have those basic classes from the quest to check out..._

There was time for that later, for now he had someone else to check.

"Hey Shiro, can I see your profile, too?"

She seems hesitant, more so than normal in social situations, anyway, but she lets allows him to come over after closing the rest of the tabs.

 _Suspicious, but I can allow some secrets._

I mean, he had plenty of his own, and one of Sora's tabs had been a complete biography, so he could understand her incentives to hide that stuff.

 _Wait... Wouldn't Sora already know everything about her past? Why would it need to be hidden from me?_

He holds down the thoughts forcefully. He could be a paranoid nutter, or he could trust his friends. Honestly, it was better for everyone involved that he does the latter.

So he does, not even questioning what she did as he leans over to read the page.

He... He didn't know what to think.

 **Name: Shiro Nai**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Title: The Taihu Light**

 **Level: LVL58**

 **HP: 300**

 **MP: 117250**

 **Str: 11**

 **Vit: 6**

 **Dex: 17**

 **Int: 268(670)**

 **Wis: 98(245)**

 **Luk: 0**

 **Points: 0  
**

 **Height: ?**

 **Weight: ?**

 **Money: ERROR**

* * *

 **Onwards and forwards.  
**

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL16**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 33664  
**

零 **5** **4** **/54**

九 **0/54**

十 **0/54**

 **Str: 15(37.8)**

 **Vit: 12(47.04)**

 **Dex: 17(42.84)**

 **Int: 53(178.08)**

 **Wis: 36(90.72)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 35  
**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:4**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL4 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+4 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 9.46% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5.12m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL51 EXP: 14.66% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+180% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL27 EXP: 6.46% MP:1000**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.69% MP:950**

 **140 HP and 20 DR wings.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **1% damage reduction and 2% damage reflection.  
**

 **Chakra Control (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 14.56% MP:0**

 **Unlocks all chakra effects.**

 **+16% chakra generation rate.**

 **Infuse Chakra (Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 13.61% MP:0**

 **Generates 2 chakra a second, increased by 102% when active. Allows chakra manipulation.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**


	40. Reason-2

Draga's eyes pass over her profile, judging their relative stats, but he freezes when the realization of her class hits him.

 _She's a Gamer._

Draga takes a step back; Sora watches him in confusion.

 _It said I was the fifth, and I already met Xander..._

He pauses, looking her over.

 _What are the odds._

It wasn't even really a question, but more a declaration of the improbability of it all.

Despite himself, Draga manages to choke out a single question.

"Since when?"

Shiro glances towards Sora, turning back to face Draga a moment later.

"I've been a Gamer since we had our poker game."

 _Why the hell would that make you a Gamer?_

Unfortunately, even if he asked, he doubted she'd know the answer.

"Who else knows?"

Sora covers for her on that question.

"Just me. I actually got my class from playing with her."

Draga's hands clench at his sides.

"And you, in all that time, never thought to tell or invite me?"

Sora attempts to console him, even raising his arms in the universal sign of surrender...

"Draga, we were planning to after the game with Tet, but then you vanished."

-but it doesn't work.

Draga's face becomes shrouded in black, the only light coming from it a dim red crescent where his left eye was supposed to be.

"I trusted you with my life, multiple times-."

Lightning starts arcing around his body in a rapidly accelerating maelstrom.

"I did your jobs on top of everything else for you-."

He lifts his face, revealing a stream of tears which evaporate the instant lightning touches it.

"Yet you kept something like this away from me!"

 **Background Music enabled: Indestructible, Disturbed**

 **By reaching a state of blinding anger the sub-class of Warrior [Barbarian] has been unlocked.**

 **Barbarian [Class]**

 **What is life without passion, without love, or without hatred? The answer is nothing.  
**

 **Increases Str and Dex by 50.**

 **Increases HP regen by 200%.**

 **Increases movement speed while attacking by 50%.**

 **Emotions are no longer affected by status effects.**

 **Grants immunity to fear.**

 **Vastly enhances the effects of natural emotions.**

Not that he read any of that.

No, he was far too busy with his own problems.

Draga slams a foot into the ground, shattering the marble floor for several meters and uplifting the table. With the temporary cover created by the midair table, he dashes forward and punches it towards Sora.

Sora ducks beneath it, using a hand on the ground to brace himself and one on the lowest edge to fling it over himself. Sora's forced to move again by Draga's followup kick, but he easily propels himself into the air and off the still rapidly moving table.

While the table shatters against the far wall, Sora slides to a stop next to Shiro's still unaffected chair.

"Stop it."

* * *

"Stop it."

Sora's voice radiates authority, something that actually catches Draga by surprise.

With the small delay created by his order, Sora flourishes his hands and summons fire all around him. The warm coat flares once, signalling it's ready position.

"We are willing to discuss this like humans, but I won't refrain from hurting you."

Draga's eyes narrow, his claws growing to their full size from his hands.

Sora shakes his head, a hand coming up to brace his forehead.

"I guess we have a fight then."

As if on cue, Draga dashes forward with his claws rapidly extending from his splayed hands.

He doesn't reach either of them, a wall of fire rising up with a single twitch of Sora's fingers.

"Draga, you won't defeat me."

As he speaks, his hand starts going through a complex series of movement, each minute change having profound effects on the shape and direction of the ever moving no-longer-wall of flames.

Draga doesn't listen, much to Sora's dismay, but he doesn't understand why. Over the course of the time they'd spent together, he knew Draga was more passionate than logical, but this wasn't just that.

Something was messing with him.

An outburst could be expected, perhaps even the stomp, but outright attacking him was never on his mind.

Sora grits his teeth, his hand movements becoming larger and more erratic in an attempt to catch Draga, but his speed combined with his wings provided him just enough mobility to elude him further.

 _I can't let him damage the castle either._

That was another problem. Both of them were perfectly capable of leveling the building, at least Draga probably was.

His abilities were pretty vague, to him at least.

"Shiro, can you actually help now?"

She smiles, her expression more sadistic than pleasant.

"No, you're not going to blow this place up."

She pouts but agrees anyway with a simple nod.

* * *

Draga pauses, noting that Sora had done the same. They were clearly talking, but trying to hear over the roar of the flames or trying to read their lips through the vibrant flame barrier were truly lost causes.

His vision swam with red, although whether from the heat, the flames, or his own anger slipped him by.

There was only one thought in his mind, and it wasn't one you'd expect from someone clearly attempting to crush his friends.

 _Why?_

Okay, maybe it was, but there were some un-thought words in there. Full text it was something like ' _Why would they keep all of this from me?'_

The game was one of the most fun things he'd ever encountered, and the strength it brought was incredible.

And it'd just been 1 day.

Shiro had it for more than a year, and Sora for likely just as long even if his was merely through the party system.

Draga watches Shiro suspiciously, a frown marring her expression.

She was obviously up to something.

By instinct alone, Draga leaps aside just in time to dodge a brilliant white explosion right by his head.

* * *

"I said not to blow this place up!"

Shiro waves him off.

"He's gonna cause more damage then us if we don't crush him now."

Despite the obvious annoyance is poses, Sora sighs in acceptance.

"Fine. Just... Try and keep collateral to a minimum."

Her newly reformed smile said otherwise, but he chooses to ignore it and focus on trapping Draga with his own technique. The faster the fight ended, the less chance of the entire building caving in on their head.

And that was a win for everyone involved.

* * *

 _These things are ridiculous._

Draga had already condemned himself to dodging in and out of the scorching hot flames in order to dodge the strange orbs Shiro was creating, but even then the rapidity of them was startling. She never made multiple at a time, which either meant she was screwing with him or the ability was limited, but one was back the instant the blinding light was over.

It was a lost cause dodging.

 _So don't._

Draga rolls into a standing position from his most recent dodge and sprints directly through the flame wall.

It burned, even cutting his HP down the rest of the way to half before he reached the other side, but the pain was as nothing in the face of Sora's fear.

It was visible the moment he crossed through, a hand defensively shoving itself in front of his still sitting sister, and boy was it satisfying.

Draga aims a fist at Sora's chest, but Sora leaps to the side and behind Shiro's chair.

Which was only a few feet away.

* * *

Sora lands behind Shiro, looking down at her panicking face.

"We need to get out of here."

The words resonate with her, and a series of twelve white balls place themselves in the path between Draga and themselves.

All at once.

Sora grips the back of the chair and flings it out a nearby window, leaping backwards through the shattered stained glass wall a moment later.

BOOM!

* * *

Draga breathes deeply, working his way through the pain that seared his entire body. He was currently impaled by pipes, scorched from top to bottom, and being crushed under a mountain of expensive stone, so he wasn't going anywhere.

Fortunately, he wasn't dead. Tet knows how, but when he threw himself away from the dozen orbs, it felt like he was being protected.

What by was still a mystery, though.

Draga waits for his HP to reach a manageable level before pulling himself along the metal pipe to his feet.

The pain shot through his body from the slightest twitch, but it was really hard to notice through the melted nerves that his body decided wasn't worth fixing.

 _Fucking game..._

Unfortunately, the weight of the rocks is in the way, so Draga is forced to deal with that first.

And I think you can guess how based on the mood he was in.

Draga's fist is thrown upwards, powderizing one of the rather large offenders. He repeats this until he can force his only slightly crippled body out of the hole.

People surround the massive pile of rubble he was trapped within with wide eyes and panicked faces, but, when Draga pulls himself out, it all turns to fear.

The reason becomes evident a moment later when he looks down at himself.

He had his **Aura** active the entire fight, and, as he'd seen, it was mostly white. There were streaks of red, yellow, and black, but they weren't prevalent.

His soul was a hazy mix of black and red.

Combined with Draga's fairly demonic appearance, he was obviously a startling figure.

Though, a question comes to mind.

What would they thing of someone breaking two of the 10 pledges set by Tet?

 _ **All murder, war, and robbery is forbidden in this world.**_  
 _ **All conflict in this world will be resolved through games.**_  
 _ **In games, each player will bet something that they agree is of equal value.  
As long as it doesn't violate pledge three, anything may be bet, and any game may be played.**_  
 _ **The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game.**_  
 _ **Any bets made in accordance with the pledges must be upheld.**_  
 _ **Conflicts between groups will be conducted by designated representatives with absolute authority.**_  
 _ **Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss.**_  
 _ **In the name of god, the previous rules may never be changed.**_  
 _ **Let's all have fun and play together!**_

It was the first and second ones that carried with it the most influence on the past few minutes.

It was physically impossible to bring harm to another person without a game involving it being started, yet he was able to destroy large parts of the castle and bring harm to those inside.

At least, that's how it looked.

 _Actually, how did they bring harm to me?_

The Game itself might excuse them, he supposed, but how would that affect their actions with non-Gamers?

Unfortunately, he couldn't explain the game to this many people, either.

 _Ugh..._

Draga changes his class, adamant about not having another emotional outburst like that, before summoning his wings once more.

With a single wing beat, he shoots up into the sky, vanishing from sight.

* * *

Sora sighs, a long and exasperated one at that.

"What are we gonna do? Besides the overly long and expensive reconstruction we'll have to oversee, Draga's pissed at us."

Shiro doesn't answer, but that's to be expected.

She was a bit busy mending Sora's shattered knees.

Landing from a 3 story fall was always difficult, but it was way harder when you are traveling backwards. Shiro was fine thanks to her own **Gamer's Body** , but Sora wasn't quite so lucky.

Fortunately, she'd acquired a healing skill quite some time ago.

It was rather weak, having a 100:1::MP:HP ratio, and it required a long time to use, but it would work in an emergency.

Like this one.

Sora winces while the bones knit themselves back together. Good things always had a price, and he supposed this was the cost of healing.

The pain of healing.

Sora tries to stand up on the new knee, but stumbles slightly. After a moment spent leaning on Shiro for balance, he readies himself for the day.

The amount of work he had to do was getting ridiculous. He became a king for the status, but with everyone but the Old Deus within his dominion, he was having a hard time blowing everything off. Stephanie Dola was busy handling international relations, so he had to handle everything at home.

He sighs, starting to walk back to the fight scene, but is stopped by a particularly unnerving sight.

Draga was now coated in a black shell of some kind, streaks and blobs or red present in that. He seems to examine himself for a moment before shooting off into the sky.

 _And my job just gets harder and harder, now doesn't it?_

"Shiro, let's go. We have a demon to visit."

His frown made it clear that it wasn't going to be a happy visit.

* * *

 **"Hello Draga."**

At the sound of his name, Draga stops his ascent. The voice didn't seem to come from anywhere, but that was fairly understandable. Trying to identify direction while traveling very rapidly was always an issue.

"Yes?"

 **"It's been a while. Hows life?"**

Draga continues glancing around, still not seeing anyone nor identifying the location of the voice.

"My life's was pretty good until a minute ago. Yourself?"

 **"Ah, you know. Dying and things. Really puts everything into perspective."**

Groaning at his inability to locate the strange voice, Draga just hovers atop a cloud.

"If you've died, how are you here now?"

An image of a black silhouette appears within his head, a set of yellow eyes and a smiling mouth forming on the head part.

 **"I would answer if I could, but, alas, I cannot; you are the one that brought me back."**

 _I brought him back? How? And when?_

"So... Who are you?"

The being chuckles, the sound bouncing around inside Draga's head.

 **"Why, that's no way to talk to your brother."**

"Brother?"

Draga had no family that he knew of, but that's because he didn't know his family. For all he knew, he did have some kind of astral demon as a sibling.

 **"Well, more of an adopted sibling, but yes. Now... Let's see here."**

Draga's black Aura glows, although how that works in a subject for another day. Black isn't a color of light, right?

"And you've corrupted my Aura?"

 **"Heavens no, I wouldn't do a thing like that. This is what you truly are."**

Another chuckle follows that last statement, causing Draga's blood to boil.

Figuratively of course; the actual blood boiling comes a moment later.

The black Aura seeps inside of Draga, causing his insides to heat to absurd levels. This is only enhanced by electricity dancing through his body, making him convulse.

While Draga falls through the sky in the least controlled manner possible, the voice was at work reshaping his body. That came with its own pains, such as the breaking, molding, and stretching of his bones within the span of a few seconds.

Lets just say, it was the most pain you can be in without dying, and then some. It was only by the Game's will, or perhaps the owner of the voices will, that Draga didn't die of shock seconds into the transformation.

And then it was over.

Draga beats his wings, pulling himself to a stop before he collapses into the mountain range below. It wouldn't do to survive all of that and then die plowing through a mountain range.

Gasping for breath and still recovering from the damage sustained, Draga only manages to pant out one question.

"What the fuck!?"

It was quite the vague question, unfortunately, and the being takes advantage of that to annoy the still agonizing Gamer.

 **"Oh please, you're not a virgin. You should know what fucking is."**

That actually brings pause to Draga, one that is unfortunately broken by his still present need to breath.

Or... Well, not need, but a kind of psychological requirement.

 _How the hell does he know about Langit? It was once, and it happened on a private server of a virtual world..._

It wasn't impossible to spy on private servers by any means, but there wasn't any magic for that, and he doubted any demon would be tech savvy enough to hack him especially for that 73 minutes specifically.

It was just improbable.

 _Which means he can read my memories._

 ** _Keen eye, Draga._**

Draga stumbles backwards, but since he was flying that doesn't mean much.

"And he's in my head.

 ** _How did you think I was talking before? It's just a cool way for me to manipulate your perceptions._**

To emphasize his point, Draga's vision rotationally blurs in real time before the effect fades away.

 _Right... Can I get your name at least?_

 ** _Why of course my boy..._**

He pauses, allowing Draga just enough time to look down at the profound changes to his form before he finished the sentence.

 _ **Our name is Grim.**_

* * *

Draga wakes up, not having remembered going to sleep. The last thing he knew...

Shooting up out of the bed, Draga accidentally crashes his head through the ceiling.

 ** _Easy there cowboy. Don't want even more people thinking your coo coo for crazy puffs._**

"Like you're one to talk."

 _ **Hey, at least I'm not talking to myself.**_

Draga sighs, clearly too annoyed to deal with his cryptic language.

 _So, what the hell just happened?_

 ** _Ah, I took your body for a joy ride. I must say, its a lot better without Gamer's Mind weighing it down._**

A raised eyebrow was more than enough for his fellow occupant to understand his meaning.

 ** _Hey, just because you're fine being an emotionless sociopath doesn't mean I am._**

Draga hangs his head, ignoring Grim's antics. It was really unclear who, what, how, or when the guy came into his life. He seemed to remember things Draga didn't, so he might be from one of his other saves, but then why would he be here.

 ** _Oh, I can get that last one for you. My essence became part of your soul. You can actually find it on your profile._**

Draga goes to find just that, looking down his page and finding something vaguely familiar.

 **Grimm Affliction (MAX)**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**

The permanent part probably explained why it was still there, assuming it was something he got in a previous save.

 ** _So, if you ever black out and wake up with wanton damage everywhere, that would be me._**

Not even trying to doubt that Grim could take control of him, he moves on.

 _So, is Grim your full name, or is it just the first, or a nickname?_

Honestly, the list of possibilities went on. For all he knew, Grim was the name of their union, rather than his being, since he called 'us' Grimm.

 _Hey, wait a second..._

Draga looks down at himself, getting enough time to actually examine the individual parts that changed while Grim deliberately doesn't answer his question.

Draga's skin was no longer the white he got from the Pansa, but it wasn't particularly dark either. It would be best described as Caucasian or white, but Draga hadn't encountered the term in that use before. Besides the color changes, all of the imperfections like freckles or moles were gone. It looked pristine, but unnatural.

Speaking of perfection, his hair was now a symmetrical mesh of blond hair.

That was all just superfluous, though, where's the cool things?

Well, he was taller. Hey, it might not matter to you, but it matters to him. He was 6' 2" now, a whole half foot more.

 _That would probably be most of the bone growth._

Alright, alright. What does all of that matter? It's still appearance.

Well, you know how I said his Aura had red splotches? Those were gone; it was just black now. What that meant for him was completely impossible to discern, especially since he didn't even know if that was truly Grim's work or just a natural progression.

Fine! I'll get to the bloody point.

He had wings.

Hey! Come back! There's more than just that.

He now had 4 wings jutting out of his back, 2 of them from the flight skill and 2 from whatever Grim did. They were black feathered wings, similar to what you'd expect of a hummingbird, but had sky blue feather tips. That change might not sound too significant, but it implied that Grim could create almost whatever he wanted out of Draga's body.

The thought alone was terrifying, but it begged the question of what he did that he couldn't see. Surely he wouldn't just change his appearance or give him wings before taking a back seat.

That wouldn't make any sense.

 _You have some shit to explain._

 ** _You're right, but I'm a bit bored. Perhaps I should go massacre some people before I tell you all my plans._**

 _Being a sarcastic git isn't helping._

 ** _You're right, but I don't think you understand your position here._**

Draga's own fist slams into his chest, causing his to double over.

 _ **I am the lord thy god, or your second one, I suppose.**_

Pulling himself back into an upright position, Draga glares at the air that mentally symbolizes the demonic bastard.

 _You are not a god, nor are you mine._

Grim chuckles, the tone of it rather unsettling.

 _ **You asked me my name, right? I think I'm gonna tell you.**_

Draga just raises an eyebrow, something Grim was obviously aware of.

 ** _Greetings Draga Konungur, my name is Schwarz Himmel._**

* * *

 **Ah, I finally get to do Grim's backstory. This is gonna be fun.  
**

 **Oh, what? You thought Grim was dead? He's made of negative emotions, so he's not going anywhere.**

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL16**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 33664  
**

零 **5** **4** **/54**

九 **0/54**

十 **0/54**

 **Str: 15(37.8)**

 **Vit: 12(47.04)**

 **Dex: 17(42.84)**

 **Int: 53(178.08)**

 **Wis: 36(90.72)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 35  
**

 **Height: 5'8''**

 **Weight: 149 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:4**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL4 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+4 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 9.46% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5.12m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL51 EXP: 14.66% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+180% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL27 EXP: 6.46% MP:1000**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.69% MP:950**

 **140 HP and 20 DR wings.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **1% damage reduction and 2% damage reflection.  
**

 **Chakra Control (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 14.56% MP:0**

 **Unlocks all chakra effects.**

 **+16% chakra generation rate.**

 **Infuse Chakra (Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 13.61% MP:0**

 **Generates 2 chakra a second, increased by 102% when active. Allows chakra manipulation.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**

 **Grimm Affliction (MAX)**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**


	41. Reason-3

Grim, or Schwarz Himmel if he was correct, laughs at Draga for a moment.

 _It can't be, right? He's implying that he's Langit's sister, but they're from different universes._

 ** _I can still hear your thoughts you know._**

Grim seemed slightly irritated when he thought that, something that came off in his otherwise blank tone.

 _So...?_

 ** _Yes, we are related in a way, but that wasn't even the point. Are you telling me you never heard of Schwarz Himmel during your time at Beacon?_**

Draga's lack of a reply was more than enough to answer that, but he answers it anyway.

 _Well, considering I don't even remember going to Beacon, I have no way to say._

 ** _Right... Forgot about that. Well, I'm going to summarize my story for that head of yours, maybe make it a little easier for you to understand._**

He simulates the sound of clearing his throat and begins the still pretty god damn long summary of his story.

* * *

Schwarz sat around the office of the newly built Beacon, idly watching a nearby clock tick the seconds away. It wasn't rare for him to be there, by any means, but usually it was on much better terms.

Schwarz may be dressed like the most irresponsible tosser in the world, with his tripp pants, weapons inside of bracers attached to his arms, and t-shirt with a logo of rebellion emblazoned on the back, but it was all a kind of disguise. If everyone thought he'd never do anything, he'd never be expected to.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that easy. He did his class work, studied and trained more than most, and didn't get involved in any of the student drama, but Monty seemed adamant about screwing with him. I mean, his bloody semblance was the only reason he was in trouble with the headmaster to begin with.

The sound of the doorknob turning causes Schwarz to sit straight in the chair in an attempt to appear professional. The door creaks open, a much younger Ozpin than any of you would know striding in after.

"Mr Himmel, I believe; let's get started."

He takes a seat and pulls his chair forward, a stack of papers dropping onto the desk a moment later.

"You have a Grimm."

It was a simple statement, but the way he said it made it sound more like a question than anything.

"Yes, sir. That Nevermore has been with me several years."

Ozpin nods, his eyes searching for something behind Schwarz's onyx orbs.

"And, may I ask, how did you come across such a creature?"

"That would be my semblance, sir. I can kill a Grimm, and summon it later. It's limited to one Grimm at a time, however, and it still needs to be trained to listen to me, hence why Nimmermehr is the only one under my command."

 _ **Under your command my tail feathers.**_

 _Your sarcastic comments aren't helping._

And they weren't. In his momentary lapse of attention, his focus had roamed from Ozpin to what looked like empty space.

"Are you alright, Mr Himmel?"

Schwarz nods, his gaze returning to the headmaster.

"Yes, sir.

 ** _No, he's a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence._**

 _Against you, Nim, but they don't care about my 'training' methods when used against Grimm._

Some grumbling noise follow that, but Nim doesn't actually reply. Fortunately, Schwarz was at least able to keep his attention forward.

"Right... I have a proposition for you."

He gestures to the stack of papers.

"This is a set of graduation forms. You fill it out, and you graduate. You're a senior anyway, so there's not a whole lot you'd be taught here in the remaining few months."

Schwarz quirks an eyebrow, looking between the forms and Ozpin's own calculated gaze.

"And what do I have to do for it? I don't believe my semblance would be cause to make me graduate early."

Ozpin sighs, a smile creeping onto his face.

"Actually, it is. We are going to Jericho falls, and your semblance is going to be critical to capturing a specific Grimm."

 ** _Ask him if he means Gilgamesh._**

"Do you mean Gilgamesh?"

The headmaster seems to debate with himself how to answer that, but finally he just nods.

 _ **Well, that's gonna be interesting. Have fun beating him.**_

* * *

 _Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This was supposed to be a summary, mate. I don't need your whole life story._

Draga's hand smacks him across the face.

 ** _Who's the one telling the story here?_**

Draga rolls his eyes, earning himself another rapidly vanishing handprint on his cheek.

 _Rude._

Some grumbling noises can be heard within his head, but Grim is willing to at least skip forward quite a bit.

* * *

Schwarz looks around at the absolute bloodbath that surrounded him. Ozpin had vanished only a few minutes into the fight, and Gilgamesh seemed to have a limitless supply of reinforcements which tore through the remainder of the raiding party.

Soaked in the blood of his comrades- and a bit of his own-, Schwarz kneels on the ground before the towering legend.

 _Please don't kill me; please don't kill me; please don't kill me!_

To his surprise, Gilgamesh just watches from above, his eyes cold and calculating.

Nothing like the fiery rage he displayed just a moment prior.

 **"Human... My name is Malkuth, and I'd like your help with something."**

Schwarz was obviously suspicious, but it was agree or die pretty much.

"And that is...?"

 **"You are going to be my greatest soldier, in a way, and your semblance will allow it."**

Doubting that Gilgamesh can properly read his expression with how large and far away his eyes were, Schwarz adds an exaggerated 'huh?' to his raised eyebrow.

 **"Have you ever tried doing the opposite of absorbing a Grimm?"**

Schwarz shakes his head.

 **"Try it, and try it on Gilgamesh."**

 _You can do this... Don't die._

Doing something completely different to his instructions, he summons Nim straight out of himself and speeds off behind it towards Gilgamesh's face.

His luck seems to have all arrived at once, because Gilgamesh didn't dodge in time, and Schwarz's remaining 4 claws drill into his skull, allowing him to soar through and kill him.

 _One down, only seven hundred thousand to go._

Deciding to be safe in its death, Schwarz starts absorbing the black smoke as he falls through it.

He regrets that decision almost instantly, his body convulsing uncontrollably as Malkuth, using Gilgamesh's essence, takes over.

It would have been a perfect take over for them, if not for one thing.

His body was only willing to host one soul.

 _What the he- **ll is going on?**_

Schwarz tries to look down on his still spazzing body, but finds himself unable to. It's not that he couldn't turn, but rather that he was already looking in all directions.

 ** _That doesn't make any sense..._**

A moment later, realization dawns on him.

He wasn't feeling anything.

It's hard to describe that, actually. He still heard, he still registered the things around him, and he still saw, in a sense... But he wasn't there.

His body was still falling, and he wasn't.

 _ **What the hell is happening?**_

No answer came to him, from Monty or-.

* * *

 _ **Stop doing that!**_

 _What!?_

Grim audibly sighs.

 _ **Your incessant blinking and breathing and moving around. It's annoying.**_

Draga deadpans, looking at where he imagined Grimm would be in the still unexplained room he woke up in if he had a body. I mean, Grim supposedly took control of him for at least a few hours on top of being a human in the past.

He had to know what he needed, right?

 _ **You do know you don't need to breath or blink, right?**_

Oh.

 _No, I didn't, but I'm going to keep doing it. If for no other reason, someone that doesn't do normal human things would look strange among other humans._

There's a pause, displaying Grim's disbelief both in the silence itself and in the tone of how he breaks it.

 _ **You're kidding. You aren't human anymore, dipstick.**_

 _I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and remind you that you were telling a story._

 ** _Ugh... Fine, you impossible ingrate, but at least stop moving around._**

 _Hai hai._

A verbal cringe later, the story picks up shortly before if left off.

* * *

His body was still falling, and he wasn't.

 _ **What the hell is happening?**_

No answer came to him, from Monty or from Malkuth nor anyone else.

He was alone.

That realization fades after a while, nothing really happening. His body slammed into the bloody wasteland down below, but nobody even reacted to it.

Why would they? It was just as dead as everything else.

 ** _I don't want to be remembered as someone who died like everyone else... Ozpin might survive, and I want him to question._**

He pictures himself breathing in and out once.

 _ **I want him to remember me.**_

As if hearing his thoughts, the Grimm down below move into action, tearing apart his corpse with minimal effort and making it unrecognizable.

 ** _Are they... Are they listening to me?_**

To test this, he tries to direct them to all look directly at him, and they do.

 _ **Wow...**_

He fiddles with them a bit longer, making them do crazy things like dance, but then something odd happens. While he's messing with the Beowulfs by making them do the dance from Thriller, the pile of corpses Schwarz had joined a moment prior starts quivering.

And then he sees it, a black orb in the center.

In less than a second, all the mass made from the various bodies pulls itself towards the sphere, quite a few Grimm unfortunately joining it, and in just as quick a pace he's back.

Gilgamesh.

 **"Not quite what Malkuth meant, but it works just the same."**

 _ **Kill yourself permanently.**_

It was a fairly simple, if convoluted for the giant, order.

 **"I'm sorry, Schwarz, but I can't do that."**

 _ **Try.**_

Despite the power shown over the other Grimm, Gilgamesh makes no such motion.

 **"No. In fact, I don't think you realize the position you are in."**

The towering giant of a man-Grimm smiles, or rather the slight indent in the shape of a smile finally forms on his giant white mask.

 **"Malkuth is your god, and I am his prophet. You are but a servant."**

 _ **And what could possibly lead you to think that?**_

If he had a face to actually express with, Gilgamesh would have rolled his eyes while smiling.

 **"Everyone says the same thing."**

Not elaborating on 'Everyone', Gilgamesh turns towards the actual abandoned city of Jericho falls. It was spotless, from damage or blood anyway, as nobody even came close to getting there.

 **"Malkuth is a patient god; he's waited tens of thousands of years for one man to be born. No matter how long it takes, you will be his soldier."**

 _ **You haven't answered my question. Time does not change things if I can simply do nothing for eternity.**_

Gilgamesh chuckles, actually bending over to exaggerate the action.

When he finally finishes, he stands up straight and wipes away a nonexistent tear.

 **"And what makes you think you can do nothing?"**

Schwarz was about to reply, but then he feels something.

Or rather, he registers a new area.

And then another.

And then more.

The rate of this accelerates, the speed of his new presence spreading to encompass a rather large portion of the known globe...

 _ **What is going on?**_

Gilgamesh's 'eyes', which were really just blood stones embedded in his mask, glow a vibrant red.

 **"You have become everything."**

He doesn't elaborate, and the cryptic message is not aided by the laughing, but Schwarz is unable to question him because a moment later he was gone.

Or rather, that point of perception was gone.

 _ **Everything? I can't feel or move, though.**_

At least, he thought so, but it seems the other parts of him were moving.

 ** _Odd..._**

He carefully watches all of them, something he's surprised he can do, and very rapidly makes correlations.

He was following people.

And the people he was following were in various states of negativity.

Similar to the changes that occured a moment prior with the newly made vantage points, his perceptions on the world change once more.

He gains emotions... But only the negative ones. He feels all the fear, the hatred, the despair, the greed, the lust, the bloodlust, and the sadness of everyone...

But worst of all, he feels their pain.

 _ **AH!**_

He can't run from it, he can't nurse it, and it burns...

But then it lessons slightly, a life ending at the hand of a Boarbatusk.

 _ **I see...**_

He internally smiles.

 _ **Then I will end all suffering.**_

* * *

 _That's cool and all, but what does this have to do with Langit?_

 ** _Who? The flugel? I'm getting to that, but it's gonna be a while._**

Draga sighs, shrugging his shoulders.

 _I swear I won't interrupt anymore if you at least answer your relation with her._

Grim mumbles some incoherent nonsense within Draga's mind for a moment, but comes up with a brief but satisfactory- for him- answer.

 ** _The Omniverse was made by a bunch of beings which we now call Primordials. Malkuth, Tet, Shiro, Langit. We're all reincarnated Primordials._**

 _Ah... Proceed._

* * *

Several months had passed since-.

* * *

 _That seems like a pretty huge gap to skip_ _._

 ** _What did you just say 10 seconds ago?_**

Draga facepalms, glaring angrily at the wall through the gap in his fingers.

 _Whatever..._

* * *

Several days had passed since Schwarz had come to that conclusion, yet nothing was better. He kept the Grimm from killing, and he even had a few do helpful things like protect cities from natural disasters, but the suffering would not stop. So many people were in pain, so many people were diseased, and people were dying anyway.

 _ **I need to do something... This is unbearable.**_

He had gotten slightly more accustomed to inconsolable pain and anguish, but it's not something you ever truly ignored. It was always there... Watching... Hurting...

Schwarz moans within his mind, sudden release from a small piece of his pain arriving in the form of a dust explosion near the still developing kingdom of Mistral.

 _ **Oh sweet release.**_

If he had a head to shake, it would be rotating fast enough to lift him off the ground.

 _ **No! I can't think like that...**_

...

 _ **But they're suffering anyway...**_

After a few more seconds of careful deliberation and totally not seeking further relief from pain, he decides to run a test.

A little town, a few miles north of the port of Vale, was destroyed that day, not a single survivor escaping.

And it felt good.

 _ **I... I could get used to-.**_

He shakes his metaphorical head again.

 _ **I won't get used to it... I'll just put the people who are truly in pain out of their misery.**_

And so he did, killing hundreds, probably thousands of people, and leaving those that weren't spreading negativity alone.

* * *

 _Question._

 ** _Answer._**

Draga's face crunches up at what was probably a dad-joke.

 _Right... If you're invisible and intangible, how would anyone know of your story enough to teach me?_

Grim pauses at that... Looking forward blankly within his mind.

 _ **You know... I never thought about that. If I went back, I could probably write a novel out of this by taking control of a young Beowulf; Call it something like Reason.**_

He makes Draga shrug.

 ** _Well, you know now anyway, so it matters not._**

 _How close are you to finishing?_

 _ **Well, fairly close.**_

 _Then proceed._

* * *

Dozens of years go by, all interchangeable. The many deaths of the poorest and most injured or suffering people wasn't even making that much of a dent on his own. It was rather aggravating, actually.

And then he's approached by a single man, or Grimm, I suppose.

Death.

 **"Hello, Schwarz. I'd like to call in a favor."**

 _ **And what could I possibly owe any of you something for?**_

Death smiles, a broad grin that shows off his sparklingly white teeth.

 **"For your immortal form, of course. So long as negativity exists, you will live."**

Schwarz pictures himself glaring at the seemingly perfect being.

 _ **Oh? And why on Remnant would I prefer this over being faunus?**_

 **"No reason. No reason at all."**

His expression said otherwise, but neither his words nor his face actually give away what he actually means.

 _ **Right... What's the favor?**_

 **"I need you to summon Conquest from one of the Pandora's Shells at a specific town. In exchange, I will provide as much happiness to the people of Remnant to alleviate your pain."**

 _ **Ah. So you know about it.**_

 **"Of course."**

Schwarz mulls it over for a moment.

 ** _Alright, Death._**

 **"Glad to see you can see the side of reason, Schwarz."**

 _ **Please... Call me Grim.**_

The planning phase takes a few more minutes, but those who have read TGWP know exactly what I am referring to. To those that haven't, it's an event for Jaune prior to Draga's introduction.

Speaking of which...

A good month or two pass of almost unequivocal joy for the not really man. Yes, some people were suffering, but significantly less. It was hard to even understand how Death did it, really.

And then he sees him- Draga- sprinting directly towards one of his focuses without his Aura active.

 _ **Do it.**_

He does, accidentally absorbing the little construct of emotion.

 _ **Gotcha.**_

It was strange, actually. Being in a body, that is. Stranger still was the company he had.

* * *

 _You can just skip the parts I was there for._

 ** _Right, right. That should be all the story you actually need; go write a biography._**

To his surprise, Draga actually gets up to start writing it down. If nothing else, the story was an interesting look at human psychology in a fantasy setting. Being a true story didn't change much for those besides himself.

 _So, anything else you need to tell me? Important revelations? Things pertaining to your abilities? Anything?_

 ** _Nope._**

 _Huh._

All of that, and it was rather anticlimactic. It was still worth writing down, obviously, but there was very little his story really changed.

 _Alright, one last question. What are you and I?_

 ** _I assume you mean what are we?_**

Draga's eyes narrow in irritation and he pauses his writing for a moment.

 ** _Syntax is surprisingly important with the supernatural._**

 _So it's actually relevant that you used 'We' instead of 'You and I'?_

I mean, it's not like they were the same person.

 _ **Well, yeah. We're the same person.**_

 _OH TET DAMMIT!_

 ** _Gee, thanks._**

He didn't seem that offended as Grim was too busy laughing to say anything else.

 _What does that mean exactly?_

There's quite the wait, long enough for Draga to finish several more pages while uselessly trying to ignore Grim's ever present and progressively more annoying laughter.

When it eventually does stop, Grim pulls himself together for an answer.

 _ **I became part of your soul when you absorbed one of my constructs. As far as I am aware, there wasn't a way to purge me even when I was just a sliver of it.**_

He chuckles a tiny bit more.

 _ **But now I'm part of it all.**_

To emphasize his point, he summons up Draga's black Aura.

 _That doesn't answer my direct question._

Forcing Draga to sigh instead of making the sound himself, Grim explains himself.

 _ **Trying to understand the soul has never brought about success. I am part of your soul in everything it means, and since there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, just get used to my voice in your head and the occasional blackout.**_

Draga nods, but freezes mid-motion.

 _Speaking of, what the hell did you do last night?_

Grim chuckles, but doesn't actually answer the question with his reply.

 _ **What happens in Elkia stays in Elkia.**_

 _We're still in the kingdom of Elkia._

 _ **Yes, but you're going to leave, so I can't say.**_

Draga frowns through Grim's uproar, but manages to ignore it this time around.

He had a different job, which Grim unintentionally reminded him of a moment prior.

Tet had some questions to answer.

Draga stands up from the desk, placing the incomplete biography of Schwarz Himmel into his Inventory, and leaves the room.

Just as he gets outside, however, Grim freezes his body.

 ** _I wouldn't recommend being seen outside, Draga. There are some unsavory individuals that would make your life rather difficult._**

 _Unsavory. That's a laugh, coming from you._

Neither of them was laughing, though.

 _So, who did you piss off and how?_

He remains silent for a moment, but answers very quickly when Draga takes another step forward.

 _ **Okay! Stop! I... Uh... I may have thrashed a bunch of flugels in totally honorable combat.**_

 _Right... Honorable... Watch out for the flugels that I used the greatest of cheese tactics against. I can do that._

Grimm at least concedes that point, allowing Draga to soar into the sky above and do what he tried...

 _How long was I unconscious?_

 _ **Only a few days.**_

 _WHAT!?_

* * *

 **Grim is back, baby.**

 **Neolockoketh, I love writing Grim. Most fun character to work with, at least thus far.**

 **Question: do you trust Grim/Schwarz Himmel?**

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: The Fifth Gamer**

 **Title: The Best**

 **Level: LVL18**

 **HP: 1551  
**

 **MP: 33664  
**

零 **61** **/61**

九 **0/61**

十 **0/61**

 **Str: 15(37.8)**

 **Vit: 12(47.04)**

 **Dex: 17(42.84)**

 **Int: 53(178.08)**

 **Wis: 36(90.72)**

 **Luk: 14(12.6)**

 **Points: 45  
**

 **Height: 5'11''**

 **Weight: 184 lb.**

 **Money: ?**

 **Affinities**

 **Lightning:4**

 **Fire:0**

 **Air:0**

 **Metal:0**

 **Earth:0**

 **Water:0**

 **Skills List**

 **Gamer's Body** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Card Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL47. EXP 98.60% MP:0**

 **+235% Int for Card Games.**

 **Board Game Mastery** **(Passive) LVL54 EXP 0.09% MP:0**

 **+270% Int for Board Games.**

 **Accelerated Reflexes** **(Passive) LVL14 EXP 76.72% MP:0**

 **+70% reflexes.**

 **Marksmanship** **(Passive) LVL16 EXP 14.52% MP:0**

 **+8% ranged crit.**

 **+16% ranged damage.**

 **Mathematician's Answer** **(Passive) LVL2 EXP 6.75% MP:0**

 **1.98 seconds Math.**

 **Lightning** **(Passive) LVL4 EXP 0.00% MP:0**

 **+4 Lightning affinity.**

 **Detect** **Bloodlust (Passive and Active) LVL5 EXP: 9.46% MP:0**

 **Detects danger at 5.12m range, triple if still and intentional.**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVL51 EXP: 14.66% MP:75, 75 per minute**

 **+180% physical and mental stats.**

 **Double physical bonuses and +100% HP regen while active.**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP: 0**

 **+100% MP and +50% MP regen per stack.**

 **Mana Fluency (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable**

 **Costs 100MP per cubic decimeter to create. Upkeep is 10MP per cubic decimeter.**

 **Siphon (** **Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000 per second**

 **Current known energies: Mana**

 **Golem Craft (Active) LVL1 EXP:0.00% MP:Variable**

 **HP is equal to MP used.**

 **Golems lack MP.**

 **Physical stats 1/20000th MP used.**

 **Mental stats are equal to 1/50000th MP used.**

 **Consume (Passive and Active) LVL27 EXP: 6.46% MP:1000**

 **Basic Flight (Active) LVL11 EXP: 14.69% MP:950**

 **140 HP and 20 DR wings.**

 **Spiked Shell (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **1% damage reduction and 2% damage reflection.  
**

 **Chakra Control (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 14.56% MP:0**

 **Unlocks all chakra effects.**

 **+16% chakra generation rate.**

 **Infuse Chakra (Passive and Active) LVL6 EXP: 51.16% MP:0**

 **Generates 6 chakra a second, increased by 106% when active. Allows chakra manipulation.**

 **Status Effects**

 **Corrupted (Med)**

 **+20% highest stat.**

 **+40% lowest stat.**

 **-10% other stats.**

 **Grimm Affliction (MAX)**

 **The essence of a Grimm has entered your body.**

 **Grimm will be able to locate you based on the strength of the essence.**

 **You count as a Grimm for abilities that require it.**

 **Grimm abilities can be unlocked.**

 **Permanent.**


	42. Reason-4

Team PDRN Powdern (White/power skiing.)

* * *

 _Okay... Let me get this straight. You managed to piss off every race except for the Old Deus and the demons._

 _ **That about sums it up.  
**_

Draga sighs, but decides to end the totally civilized discussion.

 _I'll deal with this after I speak with Tet. In the meantime, you have to work on mating WITHOUT KILLING THEM._

Grim shrugs, or rather Grim forces Draga to shrug.

 _ **What can I say? I'm absolutely killer in bed.**_

Once he manages to stop cringing, Draga flaps his wings and floats upwards, seeking out one of the blue blocks Tet seemed to enjoy to hang around so much.

The search didn't take long, Tet apparently hanging out directly above them to watch.

"You look like shit."

A single glare from the newly minted demon was all it took for Tet's knowing smile to vanish.

"Gee, thanks."

Tet nods, a frown born from sadness marring his otherwise sparkling face.

"So... How have you been?"

It was clearly an attempt at small talk to delay the inevitable, but Draga was willing to humor him.

"I've been well. Grim, on the other hand, has apparently been flourishing on my limited suffering."

Tet nods slowly, but doesn't answer him for a moment. With dismay easily evident both in tone and movement, he manages to say a single sentence after a sigh.

"Please don't do this."

Draga's body and face are far less expressive, but anger is evident in his eyes.

"No."

Tet closes his eyes, his breath coming out a bit too slowly to count as a sigh.

"You want to know after all of this, don't you?"

"You are God, so you should know my answer by now."

Tet sighs, his head hanging in front of him. With a shake of his head, it was back up looking contemplatively into the distance.

"I know, but I don't want to tell you where or who you came from."

Draga's eyes narrow sharply, the following sentence spat out through gritted teeth.

"And why would that be, kami-sama?"

Tet groans, a hand reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.

"Because I like being alive, as surprising as that may be for you."

Rather than explain himself, Tet snaps once.

"I'm sorry, Draga."

Through a stream of profanities and general insults I am not comfortable writing up for you, Draga is pulled once more into the abyss with the last thing seen is Tet looking down at him sadly.

* * *

Tet looks forlornly at the place Draga sat a moment ago, a single tear rolling down his face before falling to the planet below.

 _I am sorry._

As if on cue, a voice speaks to him from behind. He knew it instinctively, the sound having engraved itself permanently into his mind.

 **"Tet."**

The god in question turns around, his eyes tracking the being in front of him carefully.

"Conta Cifra, I must say, you've made quite the lively one."

Conta smirks despite the deities sarcastic statement, the smile growing further at Tet's frown.

 **"Remember my words."**

Tet would always remember that single poem that haunted him. It was there wherever he went: painted along the walls, carved into the floor, and written in clouds along the sky.

 **No puppet strings can hold me down.**

 **So patiently I watch this town.**

 **Abnormal soon will be the norm.**

 **Enjoy the calm before the storm.**

* * *

Draga slowly opens his eyes, his pupils taking time to adjust to the sudden influx of bright light being shined onto them.

When his vision finally returns, he starts pulling himself to his feet, only for something to press against his chest and push him back against the ground.

 _What now...?_

Draga tilts his head downwards to inspect the source of the pressure, finding it to be none other than...

 _Who?_

It certainly wasn't someone he recognized, and there wasn't any name tags or the like on his person. It was a bit of a shame for Tet's game not to have nameplates or anything like that, considering most video games did nowadays, but he could roll with the realism approach.

Now that he thinks of it, how would a nameplate system be balanced? Knowing someones real name would be a source of power...

"Where am I?"

The one with a boot against his sternum frowns.

"You're in the Emerald Forest. Now, what the hell is that?"

Draga raises an eyebrow, obviously sick of his shit already from a grand total of 6 seconds.

A world record.

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that."

The man dressed in full red steps forward.

"I'll handle this."

He kneels down next to him, Draga remaining nonplussed.

"What the hell is that?"

Unlike his ally, this man seems capable of at least pointing towards what he's referring to.

It was a raven like creature around the size of his hand.

"That-."

 ** _Don't think, obey. I'm your semblance._**

"-would be my semblance."

 _Huh... A tutorial character._

They look at him dubiously, but note that the Nevermore isn't attacking anything nor running away.

"So you can control this Nevermore?"

Knowing that it was apparently able to speak inside his head, he looks towards the bird for answers.

 _ **Yes.**_

"Yes."

The red fellow stands up, his arm stretching out in front of him.

"Tell it to perch on my arm."

Without any form of direction on Draga's part, the raven like creature does just that.

"Satisfied?"

A few nods come around and the man atop Draga steps off before offering a hand to help him up.

"Sorry about that, mate. Finding a guy with a Grimm, no matter how small, is worth investigating. So, who are you?"

Taking the hand to rise, the Fifth Gamer smiles.

"Name's Draga. Yourselves?"

With a round of introductions, Draga meets Coal, the one who stood atop him, Crimson, the guy who helped him out, and the other two on their team: Onyx and Spectra.

"Nice to meet all of you, but I have places to be, people to meet, you know."

They nod, and with a casual goodbye they trek off into the distance.

The moment they left hearing range, Draga turns to the now hovering Nevermore with narrowed eyes.

"What the hell is going on here?"

It looks back at him, the mask and sharp features only slightly detracting from the disarming appearance of his beady black eyes and small stature.

 _ **You don't remember?**_

That was always a good sign, right?

"Remember what?"

If a bird could look truly annoyed, it would now.

 _ **Ugh... You're hopeless, you know that?**_

Draga pouts, but it's fairly obvious to the both of them that it's just as sarcastic as his following statement.

"And you're the beacon of the lost."

Unfortunately, he underestimated how smug the little bastard was.

 _ **Thank you for acknowledging our relative positions in the scheme of things.**_

Draga's eyes meet the baby Nevermore's, but neither back down any time soon...

The Gamer breaks first, although that was after several minutes of tense silence.

"Alright, fine. You know what's going on better than I do, so you're gonna have to lead me around here."

The crow squawks at him.

 _ **That is most agreeable. Now, open up your map.**_

Draga raises an eyebrow at him.

"Map? I just got here. How could I have purchased a map?"

The tone Grim used was more than sufficient to get his point across.

 _ **You- you psychotic apathetic lunatic- can't remember your own power?**_

Draga looks at him only further confused.

"My what?"

* * *

Draga stood up from his seated position against a tree.

"So... I was a badass video game character?"

 _ **You could say that.**_

Ignoring the somehow sarcastic comment, Draga pumps his fist, but his enthusiasm is instantly lost when the second part of that realization hits him.

"That means Tet deleted all of my progress... God dammit."

Sure enough, a single glance at him would reveal a normal human. He was certainly taller than on Disboard, at a comfortable 5'11", but he wasn't as Grim described. His hair was red again, his skin was his normal pale but still human complexion, and he didn't have any of the inhuman characteristics he mentioned like a tail or claws.

That really sucked, actually.

 _Man, claws would have been awesome._

Draga blinks repeatedly, completely dumbfounded.

He had claws now.

 _What?_

Grim speaks to him before he can investigate further.

 _ **If I had to guess- and I do-, I'd say the game is still there; just the GUI is gone.**_

Draga looks absolutely bewildered as he fiddles around and tries to summon the cool eyes and tail, all to success.

 _ **Alright, I need you to come here for a second.**_

Draga does as directly, stepping forward directly in front of the Nevermore.

"Why?"

It was more of a request for an explanation than the ordinary question, but Grim doesn't oblige him. Instead, he flies slightly higher and plops himself down on Draga's head.

 _ **For it is in dying that we attain eternity. Through this, we become a paragon of strength and power to rise above all. Infinite is distance, and, unbound by death, I release your soul, and, by my shoulder, empower thee.**_

It takes a moment, but Draga's aura forms around him, white and black mingling in a veritable monochrome maelstrom. It rotates around his body as if the colors were in combat with one another, but the feeling of power it offers is the same regardless.

It felt awesome.

Draga stretches, savoring the feeling of each crack of his bones. He felt newer, more powerful, and from his perspective he'd only been at this for a little over five minutes.

"So-."

Draga begins while standing up properly.

"-Tet didn't want me to know who my parents were? Did he ever explain himself?"

The lack of answer speaks volumes.

"Oh..."

Draga hangs his head dejectedly for a moment before he stands up straight with renewed confidence.

"I got along fine without my parents all these years; I can go longer still. So, what are we doing?"

Grim doesn't answer, instead flapping his wings, something Draga still couldn't summon, and flies above the tree cover to get a look around. Once he had his answer, he swoops down before catching himself on Draga's sleeve.

 _ **Initiation is active, and one you've never done before. You gotta go find a temple and get a relic, and your team will be decided from there. If memory serves...**_

He stops 'talking' and instead finishes his statement by soaring off into the distance, leaving an annoyed Draga behind.

 _Might as well follow him._

He sets out, his eyes returning to normal but his claws and tail remaining in case he needed them.

This was a new and potentially dangerous world, after all. Those four didn't have 3 weapons and a giant flying ball of blood for nothing.

 _Speaking of which, that might just be the creepiest thing I've encountered here._

Speaking of encountering...

"Hello."

Draga spins around on his heel, preparing to defend himself in case the new person attacks him because of Grim, but then he remembers he was gone.

Good thing, too, since the amazonian woman before him was simultaneously gorgeous and obviously powerful. His mood is only further improved by her first real sentence to the Gamer.

"Looks like we're a team, then."

If his smile got any bigger, it would probably break the muscles his face.

"Alright, I'm Draga Konungur-."

He bows, a hand flamboyantly gesturing in her direction.

"-and you are?"

She does a much more curt but still functional bow before introducing herself.

"I am Pyrrha Nikos."

They both rise, mirroring each others expressions, before a distant explosion drags them away from one another.

Or perhaps that was just Draga...

It was.

"That's in the direction of the temple. We should go check it out."

As reluctant as he was to search out a place that was exploding, repeatedly no less, he had to go there either way, and having Pyrrha with him would exponentially rise his survival chance in a combat setting.

"Let's go."

* * *

To the surprise of both of them, Draga was actually faster than Pyrrha. It wasn't some immense difference; he wasn't zooming off into the distance, but the fact that he could keep up and surpass her even in her armor surprised them.

I mean, she'd supposedly been training for years while he'd lazed around and pounded people into the dirt at games.

Not exactly a fair turnout.

Although, his speed meant little when he stumbles his way to a stop before he crashes into a rapidly moving black bear thing.

"WHOOO!"

Draga looks up to see a orange haired lunatic directing the beast around from above.

Although, directing is a bit of a misnomer. It's more like giving tactical advice to a charging bull- or bear, in this case.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the best thing for the creature, and it soon collapses on the ground in a heap. With a pout, the girl leaps off of it to join the hitherto unnoticed partner of hers.

"Ah... It's broken..."

More voices join in, although from farther away so it's difficult to tell what they're saying. The people in question were numerous and all quite interesting, but his attention is taken from them very quickly by the sound of yet another falling from the sky.

Directly towards him...

 _Great..._

He acts quickly, however, and ducks beneath the flying beacon of white color just in time for Pyrrha to catch her easily.

 _All part of the plan I just made up._

The girl doesn't seem to mind him, though, and instead rises to yell at a red caped girl over by the relics.

Speaking of which...

"We should probably claim ours."

Moving to follow his fellow redhead, Draga picks up the knight. He would have chosen the king, but it wasn't there...

Shame, too, since the king represented Imanity/Humanity on Disboard.

"Well, at least we got the most valuable piece in terms of raw use."

That was true, actually. While queens were obviously very powerful, they were beaten by our piece jumping horse. Having the counter to a superweapon was always more valuable than having that superweapon yourself.

The conversation behind them takes a turn, however, when a shadow passes over the group... And then again... And again.

 _Goodie._

It was a very straightforward thought, but sarcastic regardless.

KAW!

Draga's eyes turn to the sky in expectation, but he was genuinely surprised by what he saw.

Grim was battling something that, if he wasn't witnessing it in person, he would have thought virtually impossible for him due to sheer size and strength difference.

A 1/2 foot Nevermore vs a 19 or so foot Nevermore, and the 19 was losing.

That could be attributed to having larger vulnerable spots and being less able to dodge, but that would be a cop out argument... Right?

It normally would be, but we weren't dealing with two wild animals. We were dealing with what was essentially a wild animal and a superhuman in a wild animals body.

That changed things, and quite a bit at that.

They watch in awe as Grim tears apart the beasts eyes, neck, and wing joints in the air, sending it spiraling to the ground in a mound of useless flesh.

Leaving its crumbled form behind, Grim flies on over to the group and settles down on Draga's shoulder.

 _Oh, goodie... More explaining things I don't know about._

As if hearing his thoughts, Grim gives him a simple way to answer the already starting bombardment of questions.

 ** _I am an intelligent Grimm created by you and, while you have control over me, I remain able to battle on autopilot._**

Using his earlier mention of what his semblance 'was', Draga feeds the group of confused teenagers the story.

"So, you own a baby Nevermore? So cool!"

The woman he now knows as Nora speeds up next to him in what he can only hope was a fraction of a second rather than instantly and takes Grimm in her arms to smother...

 _ **He-help.**_

Apparently it was hard to think in proper sentence while dying. Who would have thought?

"Nora, if you would kindly let him go before he becomes mulch, I'd be grateful."

She seemed at least slightly embarrassed at least, which was enough to get Grim out of the vice grip she seemed to effortlessly create.

"Any other questions?"

Ruby raises her hand and waves it about while making the most adorable 'ooh, ooh, me' sounds behind her sister.

"Hm... Let's see, perhaps Ruby would like to talk?"

His sarcastic smile gave him away.

"Yes."

Apparently she wasn't able to read sarcasm... Fabulous.

"Go on."

"Who are you? We didn't see you at the cliff."

Draga rolls his eyes, using the time it gives to come up with something, and he actually finds a believable point.

 _Thank god for meeting the other four._

"You don't really think that every new student was sent from the same place, do you? There's only eight of us here. No school worth their salt would have only eight students per year."

They seem to agree with him as nobody else questions him.

 _Whew._

"Alright. Shall we be off, then?"

They're about to agree, but then they realize something about him...

He had 9 inch claws growing out of his hand.

Faunus could do some pretty cool things, including grow full size ram horns or the like, but no animal has ever had 9 inch claws.

Of course, for Draga, is was more along the lines of nobody could do those things since he didn't know faunus were a thing.

"Uh... I can explain-."

 _ **You know what, I got this. You have robotic hands and forearms from a childhood incident and replaced with with your weapon.**_

 _Really?_

Grim just turns his head to stare directly into his eyes.

 _Fine..._

Draga hangs his head dejectedly in a way most would pin as resignation.

For what, though, was where the differences lie.

"When I was a child, I was attacked by a Nevermore. Before anyone got to save me, I had already lost both arms. These are mechanical, but appear in all ways to be natural."

He imagines the claws being gone, testing something out. Fortunately, he was smart enough to do this while he was talking.

And the claws vanish.

"Except for the claws."

That seemed to satisfy them, although their expressions differed quite a bit. The black hair girl off to the edge of the clearing looked at him suspiciously, Nora was cheering, and most of the rest looked both dubious and sympathetic at the same time.

Nora's takes priority, though, as she decided to both jump around in delight and give him a 'supportive' hug.

When I say it was backbreaking, I mean that literally. If he wasn't a video game character or flush with Aura right now, he'd be dead.

 _Yay..._

Choking in air once he's finally free, Draga pulls himself into an at least slightly composed form.

"Right *cough*... Shall we be off, then?"

They seem to all agree, but its muddle by other form of conversation as they make their way back to...

Where the hell were we going?

It's a good thing Nora was sprinting off into the distance, because it meant he had two people to follow.

* * *

The team granting ceremony was just as boring as he didn't remember, although he saw the same team from earlier again. God... Ozpin loved dramatics, but he seemed to have a knack for pressing peoples buttons too, even if it wasn't on purpose.

As if he could hear his thoughts, Ozpin's eyes land on him.

"Pyrrha Nikos, Draga Konungur, Ren, Lie, and Nora Valkyrie. Please come upstage."

All the while, those eyes trace him.

 _Hm..._

There wasn't much to work with, so he wades through the crowd to the stage without an argument.

"Lead by Pyrhha Nikos will be team Powdern."

Up on stage was each of their pictures with the initials PDRN shown below.

It's not until Draga's on stage that Draga realizes something...

 _He shouldn't know my name..._

It wouldn't be that unlikely for surveillance camera's to be out there, but they wouldn't be likely to catch everything that everyone said. His focused attention was already suspicious, so this new layer wasn't really helping his opinion of him...

But there was nothing he could do about it. He knew practically nothing of the world around him and would have to wing it from here. At least he had Grim.

 _Speaking of..._

Draga looks around, not seeing the small Nevermore anywhere.

"Huh..."

Fortunately, nobody hears him over the customary applause for the team creation.

"Alright, please return to your seats."

The ceremony continues, Draga's eyes surveying the people around him. It was actually comforting, slightly anyway, that he didn't see levels or names above everyone. Besides the obvious stalker-ish feel that would have, he didn't want to go through the trouble of remembering exactly who has introduced themselves and who hasn't.

God, that'd be a nightmare.

 _Speaking of gods, Grim spoke of someone named Malkuth in his quick retread of my experiences... How do I contact him?_

Normally, you'd start insulting or worshiping a god to get their attention, but that didn't really apply in this case. I mean, he can't exactly worship his monsters in proxy, and he only has a name to run with on the being himself.

 _I'll figure it out later._

That was becoming the staple of his life, but he could roll with that. At the very least, it meant he had time from this exact moment before problems begin.

RIIIIIIIIING!

The sound of the bell echoes throughout the room, signalling that the assembly was over.

"Welcome to Beacon, all of you."

Draga nods, starting to head out the door, but he freezes suddenly at a particular sound.

The beep of a game tab opening.

* * *

 **Yes, yes, I know. It seems clunky to just cut out his memories and GUI, but I have a plan I swear. Draga's profile hasn't changed at all, despite the GUI change, so you can check it out on the previous chapter.**

 **In the meantime... I have a site to build, a story not on FF to write, and an entire game system to invent.**

 **Ah, vacation.**


	43. Reason-5

**Everyone that has spoken to me about it has been confused about the ending of the first timeline and the motivations and logic behind it, so I think I'll answer your questions really quickly in this authors note.**

 **Ozpin has the power to control time, and has actually been alive since the moon was obliterated more than a few thousand years ago. Ozpin traversed from the point of unlocking his semblance (the moment the moon shattered long ago) up and until the planet was eventually devoured by the sun. He experienced and remembers everything important that ever happened on the planet within his ability's reach.**

 **And then Draga appears, completely independent from the timeline he's grown to know so well. This actually sparks excitement, so he watches everything he does clearly and even steals what he thinks is just a simple trinket, the Chaos Token, for the sake of studying Draga's behaviour.  
**

 **Tzeench, the Chaos God of time, uses that very same token to manipulate and take control of Ozpin, causing him to create the ending of T1. Tzeench, while having similar motivations, is seeking entertainment on a grander scale, something he recognized simply wouldn't happen if Draga remained on Remnant.**

 **The second timeline, however, has no Chaos Token because Draga never met Spirit. Because of that, Tzeench couldn't just pull the same trick over again, so he's working another angle I won't be explaining here.**

 **Well, hope that covers everything. If it doesn't, please tell me.**

* * *

Draga freezes in the middle of the flow of students, angering quite a few people as they brush past him.

 _That sound..._

The game ping wasn't totally impossible to excuse, since it comes from a game in a world with the tech to have them, but it was exactly the way Grim simulated.

That was too big a coincidence.

Draga's eyes trace the people as they move past him, looking for any sign of the rectangular windows, but either they'd closed it or it was his imagination.

Yeah, right. Like he'd ever be that lucky.

Unfortunately, that's where the trail cut off...

"Draga Konungur?"

The student in question perks up at his name, turning to face the speaker.

 _Ozpin._

"Yes, headmaster?"

While the man slowly walks down from the stage and takes a sip from his Beacon mug, he explains himself in a calm voice.

"Well, I'm just wondering why you're still here. You were dismissed, after all. Surely you're curious about your accommodations?"

Draga nods slowly, not quite understanding what he meant. There had to be people he didn't predict perfectly, right?

Oh, how right he was.

There was exactly one person.

"Get on then. No use hanging around the auditorium."

Not exactly left with a choice, Draga briskly jogs out the door.

With the last piece of his awareness back in the auditorium before the doors shut, he hears Ozpin chuckle lightly to himself.

 _Yay! More foreboding._

Okay, there wasn't much evidence that it was a cryptic signal, but you have to admit he was being suspicious. At the very least, the man knew that Draga wasn't quite normal.

Speaking of not quite normal, he didn't have one of those badass weapons everyone else seemed to have. He had his claws, sure, but he could at least use a gun of some kind.

 _Hm... M32 rotary grenade launcher? M15 full auto modded assault rifle? So much to choose from._

They clearly had the tech for it. I mean, just look at the crap Ruby was doing. That's not even accounting for the fact that nobody but Yang seemed to reload their weapons. Ruby clearly had other clips, each marked differently on the side, but changing it seemed entirely optional.

 _I can worry about it later. For now..._

Draga spins on his heel, continuing to jog down the halls towards where everyone else went. Considering Ozpin's words, it was probably the dorm rooms.

Now if only he knew which one was his.

Draga slowly walks around, listening to the conversations going on behind the doors- even though he can't understand what's being said- in hopes to hear one of his teammates voice.

The effort was wasted as he heard Nora's shouting near the end of the hall while only a few doors down.

 _I should probably check that out._

He goes back to jogging, stopping at the door and swinging it open to something that should have been impossible.

A party.

 _How the hell did they set this up in time!?_

Ozpin had announced the room numbers earlier, even if he hadn't really payed much attention to it, so there's no way they set this up before now.

It's only then that he actually sees Nora, her appearing directly in front of him as if from nowhere with a plate of pancakes balanced precariously in both hands.

"Hey Draga. Want some pancakes?"

She raises the stacks to emphasize them, but Draga can't help but notice that they're somehow shorter than a second prior.

"Sure?"

Nora spins around excitedly, although the reason still passes right over the still confused Gamer, and stops with one arm extended towards him with a now 3 tall stack of pancakes.

 _I didn't even see her touch them. Is she absorbing the nutrients through the fucking Aether?_

He takes the plate regardless, taking a seat in a lawn chair they'd somehow fit within the cramped room.

It wasn't cramped normally, only having beds and desks for the four of them, but the tables, chairs, and games took up almost every available space in the room. There was barely room enough to walk, but nobody else seemed even slightly affected by this.

 _I am in a school of monsters._

While closing his eyes to hide his annoyance, he lets out a sigh.

 _No, that's a little unfair._

As he returns his gaze to the plate of pancakes to eat them, his sigh returns full force.

There were only two.

 _Might as well._

With a speed not quite on par with what Nora was doing at one of the decorated tables, Draga inhales his food.

"Huh... This is actually pretty good."

He raises his head from his plate to look at the cook, noting Ren at an electric skillet making more. God knows how he keeps up with Nora when he only makes two at a time, but he might have had time to prepare.

"How do you deal with her pace?"

Ren mirrors Draga's earlier sigh, although his seems more resigned than annoyed based on his expression.

"Years of practice."

 _God, I can't imagine dealing with someone that hyperactive for so long. Speaking of impossibilities..._

The girl in question, eating the 68th pancake he was in the room to witness its death, was slimmer than himself. Like... Biology why!?

 _I mean, I have to work it off..._

"Hey, Ren?"

He turns his head, still flipping pancakes easily with his peripheral vision.

"Yeah?"

Draga scratches the back of his head as he asks him a risky question. It wasn't inherently risky, like pissing off Nora, but rather left a chance for him to be discovered as a fraud. Yes, he wasn't a fraud, but interdimensional travel wasn't going to be someone's first guess.

"Where can I train here?"

Ren doesn't seem suspicious, nor does anyone else in the room, but he doesn't answer the question; Pyrrha does.

"There are a few training areas scattered around the school grounds, most of them outside. Looking for anything specific?"

Draga mulls over it, honestly not having thought of what he'd need. Inside would probably reduce the number of people around, allowing him to experiment with his thus far unknown abilities, and a place to train speed would be helpful. From the way Grim described it, speed was his primary attribute.

Outside of magical potential, of course, but training that without the game itself was probably next to impossible.

"Somewhere inside and with a track. Weights I can strap to my body would be nice as well, but aren't required."

It seemed she knew where to go, at least if her arm pulling him and the chair he was still seated in was any indication.

 _She probably isn't exactly comfortable in there either..._

Hopefully their party is over by the time they get back.

* * *

 _How does anyone know their way around here?_

The surface of the school was really easy to get around, and the rest of the buildings were stand alone areas. Underground was a whole other story.

The place was teaming with massive rooms, ranging from training areas to what could only be described as barracks. The image that word portrayed was particularly fitting because everything around the two of them was as efficient as possible for its intended job. Nothing was decorated and everything was built with such a rigid structure Draga couldn't even imagine how anyone repaired things down here.

Draga warmed up by stretching before running a few laps, but running doesn't quite describe it. When he actually pushed himself, he passed what he considered sprinting speed without even breaking a sweat.

 _Man, this is sweet._

He presses harder on himself, pounding his feet against the gravel with enough force to compress it downward.

The indoor track was just as bland as everything else, but it was all he really needed. It's not like he could see the track through the dust cloud he kicked up the lap previous.

He presses harder, but is surprised a second later when someone actually appears next to him.

In his stupor that anyone could match his frankly inhuman pace, his next step slips up, causing him to trip forward.

Normally when you fall over, you smash face first into the floor. Unfortunately, Draga's speed was such that he went far enough to crash directly into one of the grey stone walls.

BOOM!

It wasn't quite as painful as it should have been, and the reason why became obvious a moment later when he sees white shining around him.

 _Aura..._

He pulls himself out of the wall, looking down at his arms to examine the strange immaterial... Thing.

 _It's perfectly white... Black could be explained away since Grim isn't part of me anymore, but what about the red and orange he mentioned?_

There wasn't an answer, but that much should be obvious by the need to question it in the first place. I mean, nobody explains shit to him. Grim was willing to do it earlier, but supposedly he only had to do that because someone made him forget all the information he learned on his own.

Regardless, his aura was white now. What that meant... He really had no idea.

 _White... The most boring color._

As if it heard his thoughts, a tiny bit of blue seeps outward from his palms, turning the color into a sky blue.

 _Ye-what?_

Aura was the representation of the skull, but Grim described it as a static thing. Your soul never really changed itself, but rather outside things changed it.

 _And yet another layer is added to the mix._

Unfortunately, when he turns around, the cavern is mostly empty. It's only a moment later when Pyrrha gestures to a clock on the wall that he realizes a bell of some kind probably went off.

"I gotta be there early to scope people out. See you later?"

 _Lady, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I don't even know where you're going._

She seems to get an answer from his silence, as evidenced by her turning and making her way out of the facility. With a last glance behind her to check on Draga, she vanishes around a corner leading upstairs.

 _Ugh... I guess I should go as well._

Curiosity visible in his eyes, Draga jogs after Pyrrha. It was quite the large room, though, so it takes a bit at what he would consider a 'normal' pace.

 _I never did get a look at who was next to me._

He shrugs it off though; no use worrying about stuff like that. This was a fantasy world, after all.

...

...

...

 ** _We should get going._**

Draga jumps, accidentally propelling himself quite a few feet into the air. It's a good thing nobody was still in the room, or he might have both embarrassed himself and/or hurt someone.

Landing in a simple safety roll, Draga stares menacingly at the empty air in front of him since Grim wasn't anywhere he could glare at.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

Unfortunately, it seems Grim can't hear him from wherever he is.

 _Well, at least I know that telepathy isn't blocked by zoning out._

That was both terrifying and great. Nobody had used telepathy as a weapon before, but knowing his luck someone was going to soon, but it also meant he could stare off into space to pass the time and just let Grim pull him back whenever something required his attention.

Okay, so not the greatest trade off, but small victories are important in a war, not that he knew what he was fighting.

 _Actually, that's a pretty important point. What am I fighting?_

All he could really think of was the Grimm. Malkuth and the four horseman sounded terrifying, but they supposedly wanted just Jaune.

 _Speaking of which... Where the hell is Jaune?_

Unfortunately, he's interrupted in his thoughts by his distant companion.

 _ **Head outside. I'll find you from there.**_

Draga narrows his eyes, but doesn't really have any reason to deny him that. He'd been an invaluable ally, probably. For all he knew, Grim was just digging him a bigger grave every second he was there.

But, that was speculation. Paranoia may keep you safe, but it was called a disorder for a reason.

 _Of course... It's not paranoia if people actually ARE out to get you..._

He shakes his head to alleviate the thought. Dwelling on things like this only brought about trouble.

 _Unless you're right..._

Draga smacks himself, taking the moment of universal control the pain brings to start heading outside because, if he didn't, he'd never move.

Fortunately, Draga doesn't get lost within the massive building.

I mean, how bad would your sense of direction have to be to not be able to find outside in a building made of large rooms all connected to hallways? Just follow the halls and stay on the first floor. You'll find it eventually.

And find it he did, in the form of the front gates to the place overlooking an airfield and massive plaza.

"Grim?!"

His call gets answered quite quickly, the aven man swooping down to perch himself on top of Draga's head.

 _ **Hey sport.**_

He doesn't say anything else, causing Draga to prod him with a finger.

 _ **Alright, alright.**_

Draga watches as Grim propels himself back into the air, his head turning back expecting Draga to follow.

"I can't fly, genius."

Grim audibly sighs within his mind, his eyes turning back to the sky in front of him.

 _ **You have two different kinds of wings. Just imagine them growing out of your back.**_

Draga frowns, but does as he was instructed, picturing a wing sprouting from his shoulder blade.

It doesn't work quite as he expected.

Unlike the tail, the claws, or even his eyes, the wings were physical changes born from Grim, not **Consume** , so... It hurts like hell.

The skin around the bones in question tears itself open, allowing muscle fibers and bone to shoot out into the general frame of a wing, skin and other necessary tissues rapidly springing from them to form the basic structure before the feathers even get to work.

The spiky structures explode outward, audibly knocking everything within close proximity away with the air pressure born from thousands of massive feathers all spreading forth within a fraction of a second. The effect is worse on Draga, the pressure crushing his body and only adding to the agony of the event.

Mercifully, the endorphin rush combined with Gamer's Body puts and end to the torture mere moments after it began.

Huffing for air while bent over, Draga manages to pull himself together.

"Remind *huff* me not to listen *huff* to anything you say."

Regardless, Draga had wings now, so he tests them out, experimentally beating them against the air beside him. To his surprise, the movements came almost naturally, like flying was ingrained in his instincts and memory so deep he didn't even need to focus on it.

That was actually concerning, because it meant more things could be hidden from him in his own mind, but Draga wasn't allowed to dwell on the issue.

 _ **Come on, we only have all day.**_

A tiny fraction of a smile edges onto Draga's face at that, but he rises up into the air next to his avian companion.

"Where are we going?"

 _ **Gerussan.**_

Draga deadpans at him, the meaning clear, but Grim obstinately refuses to elaborate.

 _Ugh..._

"You could actually explain things, you know."

Draga was expecting something along the lines of 'but where'd be the fun in that?' but none came; it was just still air between the pair of them for a tense moment.

Grim, fortunately, breaks the silence.

 _ **You're a pretty down to Remnant kind of guy. I'm just a bit worried of how you'd react to what I'm gonna say.**_

Draga's narrowed eyes told a very different story.

 _ **Alright, alright. Geez, lay off the glare, would you.**_

It wasn't a request, but it was a start at least, so Draga's eyes return to their mild state of curiosity.

 _ **I'll explain on the way. Even with flight, it will take us awhile.**_

"Wait, you're actually gonna explain something to me?!"

The look on his face was incredulous, something that almost caused Grim to laugh. He didn't though.

A single nod was all the communication between them before Grim shoots off into the distance and Draga clumsily attempts to do the same. With a sigh, the redhead curses under his breath.

"This is gonna be a long day."

 ** _Oh..._**

There's a slight pause, allowing Draga just enough time to realize he somehow heard him.

 _ **It's gonna take quite a lot longer than that.**_

"Oh..."

 _ **Hey, at least you don't miss any classes. We should be back in time for your first lecture.**_

He snickers, but why is beyond him.

Another sigh escapes Draga's throat, but he doesn't stop flying with Grim in what was, to him, a random direction.

"Alright."

Over the next 8 or so hours of uninterrupted flight over ocean, forests, mountains, and even what Draga thought was a swamp filled with giant preying mantises, Grim tells a little tale.

* * *

The world of Remnant, like an old story Ozpin used to tell, was born from two men each having a polarity for either light or dark. The brother of light, Keter, brought about intelligence and consciousness, while Malkuth, the brother of darkness, brought about the many other things in the world. Unlike the story, however, this was a partnership. Malkuth made the lands, the skies, and even the people. Keter brought them souls and their minds.

Unfortunately, some dispute occurred between them that nobody outside the two of them would ever know, and it ended with Malkuth unleashing the Grimm upon the world just before Keter, with his dying breath, banished him from the material world.

Malkuth knew that Keter's soul would eventually find a new host, so he waited and manipulated the Grimm he had created from the background, turning the world into one suited for his needs: taking command of the new incarnation of his brother. In doing so, he obliterated most of the human population and sent them back technologically and materialistically several millenia.

This, as far as most are aware, left the world with the kingdoms of Vale, Mistral, Atlas, Vacou, and later Menagerie, but there is one I should be the only person outside of it to know of before now: Gerrusan. It was a kingdom that formed just like the others, but lacked any communication with the other kingdoms in any form. It remained to itself, ignorant of the CCT towers and other advancements the world was making because they were making their own.

I don't know the full story, since I was only around for 80 years be-.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait. You never mentioned an 80 year gap in your story before."

The birds head turns back to face him, the change in perspective not even significantly hampering his rapid and almost acrobatic flying through and around the trees.

Shame Draga wasn't nearly so skilled, just weaving around the forest giants and hoping he doesn't slam into anything that will do more than cause a momentary dock of a health point.

 _ **Yes, I didn't explicitly say that 80 years had passed, but you've seen Ozpin. You should know from his current age and that he was barely in his thirties for Jericho that plenty of time had been skipped over.**_

"I should know? He looks 60 at the most. Plus, I don't know what the reaches of Aura are. What if it could slow or stop aging?"

Grim turns to look ahead again, easily gliding around yet another evergreen.

 ** _As a hunter, looking 60 is the same as being ancient. Most hunters never get a gray hair before their death._**

 _Gee... That's inspiring._

"Well, proceed."

* * *

Essentially, Gerrusan was a massive military state with a population trumping that of the rest of the world. While it dealt with its own wars, like the Faunus Holocaust, it still remained fixed within its distant north position and remained off of the radar for the other Kingdoms.

While suffering was constant during that time, the moment it was over they seemed to be... At peace, Grim supposed. There was a little suffering, and obviously people had their own problems or minor injuries, but most of the more than 30 million people were doing just fine.

They were even starting to study Grimm, including those that were alive. Man, if Schwarz was alive there, he'd have had a holiday in his honor for his ability to produce a Grimm literally infinite times, allowing them to study it forever.

Grim couldn't do that now, but he had other options.

Using a few Beowulfs and Ursas, he leads- read: kidnaps- a few researchers to the black pits that summon the Grimm in the first place. They take the most obvious approach, and start messing with it in every way they can think of.

There are some negative results, for them anyway, in the form of mutated Grimm coming from irradiated muck, but certain chemicals seem to stop the spawning as well. Eventually, though, they discover the key to Grimm.

The smoke.

Much like how Schwarz's semblance works, they capture the material and start messing with it, developing custom Grimm for their own military purposes. The collection is varied, ranging from 3-headed Emperor Taijitu to what they called Commando's, a sort of enhanced Ursa. Unfortunately for them, they never actually figured out what was controlling the Grimm... Grim.

* * *

His extended break from story telling signifies a break for Draga to speak.

"So, what happened when you left? Wouldn't all the Grimm go loose and act normally, IE killing everything?"

Grim nods, looking off at something Draga was still unable to see out in the distance.

 _ **That's why we're going there. You need to train, I have to save my personal project, and they could probably use our help.**_

Draga readily agrees, to the last part anyway, but he's unfortunately interrupted a moment later.

Not by a person nor a monster.

But by slamming directly into an invisible wall.

 _Ow._

* * *

 **Yay. Draga getting the Call Of Duty treatment by those invisible boundaries. That bit of air you bounced off of above the red picket fence signalling the level boundary?**

 **Indestructible butterfly.**

 **Still no profile. Just as a note: his profile won't be posted without the game system. Any training he does is legitimate real world training, not the stats system, and he doesn't get EXP either. Changes based on real world events will be calibrated into his profile if he gets it back. (I legitimately haven't decided whether he'll get the GUI back sometime before T3...)**

 **On a completely different note: I have passed 200k words. I am officially past 2 full sized novels, 3 if we're going small. WHOO!**

 **I never expected to go this far. Most of my pet projects get... Well, abandoned. I'm sure you guys probably understand that. But this... Fickle Things...**

 **It's become a major staple of my life, even changing how I interact with people in attempt to act more like a character because I'm gonna be writing stuff for them later. Grim was a bit... Hard to explain to others, but otherwise they seem to find it pretty cool. They probably think it's some kind of gag, since I do voices and imitations pretty frequently, but it matters little to me either way.**

 **So... I need to put forth a disclaimer. Unlike most of the little variances I put into RWBY which most of you probably hadn't noticed, Gerussan isn't something I made on my own. While I'm gonna be making the modern Gerussan for this story myself, the history of the place was almost entirely created by a good friend of mine. As such, I don't have all the facts regarding it. If you have any budding questions that I don't answer, you literally have to ask since there's a good chance I won't even know to put it in the story for the background information.**

 **Lastly, I am going to be creating a thing on 'More Fickle Things' which is a series of chapters following Draga once he summoned Surga if he was the kind of villain he really needed to have.**

 **Anyway, there's another chapter. I need a god damn sandwich.**


	44. Reason-6

**I figured I should mention something right off the bat.**

 **There are quite a lot of separate groups screwing with Draga's timelines and environments. Even without naming specific ones within groups, we have Tet, The Chaos Gods (Tzeench), Mewujudkan, the Council of Deaths, Draco (sort of), the one that's showing up this chapter, Conta Cifra, and one I won't be introducing for a while now.**

 **So... When things start happening that don't make a whole lot of sense without these kinds of things, try figuring out who's doing it. It should make understanding the future significantly easier for anyone confused by any of this. If truly nobody gets it, I'm still happy to explain things, but I am a firm believer of theories being more fun than laws.**

* * *

Draga twitches slightly, the force of which being enough to pull him off the wall...

And fall to the ground below.

 _Ow._

Draga pulls himself back to reality quickly enough, but slamming into that again wasn't on his to do list. The hit itself stung quite a bit, but the surprise really got to him.

Not helping in the slightest was the fact that it didn't even bend under his high speed impact while the ground beneath his 20 foot fall had a permanent dirt angel carved into it.

 _ **Come on, up an at 'em. We got Grimm to deal with.**_

Draga sighs, pulling himself to his feet.

"In case you didn't notice, there's a wall here."

If a bird was able to raise an eyebrow, Grim would be doing so.

 _ **What are you talking about?**_

To emphasize his point, Grim flies directly towards the point Draga slammed into, passing through without issue.

...

...

...

 _Then what the hell did I hit?_

Experimentally, Draga tries to do the same as Grim, but he slams against something again. Fortunately, he was aware that it would happen, so he just retreats a few feet.

"There's definitely something here man."

Grim ignores him, floating off into the distance.

 _Fine, see if I care. It's your project anyway._

Draga turns to head back to Beacon, but freezes once he was facing the other way.

There was a big white rectangle.

"Wha-?"

He doesn't even finish the question before more fading into existence, filling up the majority of his field of vision within seconds.

Draga's first inclination is to run, but turning around slams him into the invisible wall again.

 _Oh for the love of all that is holy._

He turns back to the field of white, now making up all that he can see in that direction.

The last thing he can recognize before he loses his senses is a single word.

 _ **Remember!**_

It was Grim's voice, and it bounced around his head as Draga entered a white oblivion.

* * *

 _ **Remember!**_

It wasn't much, but there wasn't enough time to explain anything. The only hope was that Draga could get the message from that alone.

 ** _Malkuth, I hope he can get back on his own... I don't want to go back there._**

Grim mentally groans, looking at the spot Draga was a moment before he fell through the reflective surface of what could best be described as Schrodinger's glass. It was vacant of sound or life, leaving Grim to perch nearby and wait.

After all, there was only one way in, and whoever it was couldn't possibly be stupid enough to invite Grim in with the mirror?

That would allow him to get back out, after all.

 _ **All will come with time...**_

The question was how much, and what all was going to be.

 _ **Ugh...**_

* * *

 _Ugh..._

Draga opens his eyes, verbally cursing whatever it was that caused his most recent headache. It wasn't the worst one he'd ever had, but it was pretty bad, and the ache across his entire body didn't help.

 _Where the hell am I?_

There wasn't an obvious answer, especially since there didn't seem to a 'here' to begin with. The world around him just looked like an endless sea of blue with more of those white rectangles, although a lot less than he'd encountered on Remnant. It was a bit hard to make out, but there seemed to be a few dark gray or black ones mixed in, but they were absolutely eclipsed by the number of bright lights.

It was... Less than comfortable to be somewhere new yet again.

Draga turns to the side, noting that the expanse spreads on in all directions, but then his eyes catch the sight of a none-rectangular black shape against the backdrop of this strange plane.

There wasn't gravity or any surfaces for him to maneuver around with, but his wings seem to work just fine, so he makes his way over to it.

As he approaches, red lines and intricate designs become visible, along with white splotches, but it's only clear what he's actually looking at when he's a few feet behind it.

It was a person.

The individual was roughly 6'4" and his black hair and clothing was why he appeared black from a distance, but red strips of cloth dangle from his bizarre pants-dress mixture and a red mask similar to the one the Nevermore's had was emblazoned on the back of his shirt. The white splotches appeared to be white hair/fur on dog-like ears for his head. It was definitely strange, since he had both human and animal ears, but he'd seen several other people like that during his brief stay at Beacon.

Like that bunny girl with the camera.

Draga moves around the man, going to get a look at his face, and finds him to be incredibly average looking. His expression was blank, something to be expected from someone who's clearly unconscious, and his complexion was just as uninteresting.

There was only one thing he could say was actually interesting about the man... His eyes were open; they were unmoving and unseeing, but the pale blue eyes were staring into the depths of this dimension without recognizing anything.

One question lingered throughout the plane, one composed of three simple words.

 _Who are you?_

* * *

Grim sighs, still waiting. Time existed in the magic mirror in a linked way to reality, but the last slightly over a minute represented a good hour or two in the Mirror Plane, as he called it. There wasn't any sign of Draga's return or even whatever pulled him there.

But then... He see's it, the slight glare of a spectral mirror where Draga was absorbed.

 _ **Might as well go save him.**_

The mirror would allow their escape, but the suspicious part was why it was there. One of two things had to be true for it's formation.

Either Draga won and was allowed to exit on his own...

Or he lost.

Without further delay, Grim blazes forward and passes through the barrier without resistance, to all the world vanishing entirely.

But he knew better. He was going home.

* * *

Draga's attention is pulled away but one of the nearby white shapes, this one being more of a square shape than it's elongated counterparts. That's not the interesting part. No... The interesting part was the massive glow it was shining down upon him that was building...

And building...

Within seconds it was blinding, forcing Draga to cover his eyes to protect himself from the glare, yet a moment later it fades.

 _Okay..._

Draga uncovers his eyes only to find everything darker. The strange man was gone, the rectangle was gone, and the blue dropped a few shades.

 _Grim said to 'Remember,' but remember what?_

The universe wasn't going to give him an answer that easily, something he was coming to expect for the third time in a row, but it wasn't going to leave it at just a confusing mess.

No, that'd be far too lenient.

An itch appears at his chest, causing Draga to look down...

 _Well._

A black mass was swirling out of it, but it wasn't complete. After only a second of growth, it splits from Draga and rapidly shapes into the silhouette of a man, color spreading from his eyes in a wave to encompass his body before receding into his natural form.

The strange man doesn't speak, and his crooked mouth and glowing eyes did nothing to keep Draga's eyes from wandering slightly above him.

"✡︎** ︎ ✌︎** ︎ ︎ 💣︎✡︎ ❄︎✋︎👍︎😐︎*❄︎ ︎ ︎**❄︎ ︎** ︎****."

This text was floating above his head in plain sight, but deciphering it was something Draga couldn't do. He didn't even know any languages besides Japanese/Imanity. English was covered by the game, at least it appeared so on the signs and the like he passed back in Vale, but this...

This was something else entirely. It didn't even look like a language.

It didn't help that what caused it didn't actually say anything and a bunch of the letters were blocked from his sight, and the challenge grew even harder when it blurred out of existence a moment later.

"Hello?"

The sound echoes around the area, bouncing off the still unexplained rectangles, but the new person doesn't answer.

Speaking of, the man was tall and slender and was wearing a black suit jacket over a gray turtleneck using very dull browns in place of the earlier pitch black. This contrasted well with his solid white face.

His face was just as contrasting with his eyes lacking a corona, instead being a solid black with white pupils and black cracks stretching up from his right eye and down from his left eye.

The strangest part, though, had to be his hands. They were working just fine, as evidenced by his fingers slowly moving in a way best described as a anxious twitch, but...

They had a massive circular hole punched through the center of them.

"Who are you?"

Once more, he does not speak, but rather smiles a jagged grin and tilts his head to the side in earnest.

And then it hits him, and I mean that in the literal way. Something he couldn't see or recognize plows Draga's chest, knocking him backwards into the abyss.

* * *

Draga's eyes open just in time to see the new person dashes towards him in a cloud of black, but he doesn't quite react in time and gets spun around by a grazing impact to his arm.

His wings stop the rotation, allowing him to face towards the still oncoming threat, so Draga does the sensible level headed thing to do.

Dump lightning into it.

His two raised palms pour out **Pale Lightning** , but anywhere the energy makes contact with the strange being simply causes it to dissolve, something that's easily fixed a moment later without issue.

 _Oh for-._

His thoughts were interrupted by a hand gripping the back of his neck. A glance downward revealed a disembodied hand, or rather twelve of them, gripping his neck and other extremities. Even worse was that he still had two attached to him as evidenced by him stopping before the now pinned Draga and lifting up his chin with one.

As his smile grows, the same 'text' as before appears above his head, but glitching out.

And then he see's it. For about a frame before it vanishes like the previous, it says the sentence in English.

"You are my ticket out of here."

 _I'm screwed, aren't I?_

It seems so when a moment later the man tilts his head towards an approaching white rectangle, the glare glowing just like the previous.

As before, the world goes white.

* * *

Draga gasps for air, able to feel a burning in his lungs. While desperately inhaling at a pace most would consider inhuman, a few thoughts run through his mind.

There's the least important but still relevant one: _I thought Grim said I didn't NEED to breathe!_ With the followup of _Wait, why can I breathe here?_

There's the fairly important one: _God, he's completely broken._

And the third, the most critical and relevant thought: _He's right there._

Sure enough, the man was a mere 20 feet away from him and just watching with his attached hands behind his back the other 12 around him in a circle perfect circle.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The answer was more of that incomprehensible text.

"✋︎ ✌︎💣︎ ︎*.👎︎. ︎✌︎💧︎❄︎***. ✋︎ ︎*✌︎*❄︎ ✡︎**."

Still letters missing, but this was at least slightly understandable based on his previous encounters.

 _"I AM *.*. *A****. I *A*T Y**."_

He glares forward at the mans still softly glowing eyes.

 _No idea what his name is, but that last sentence is pretty clear._

"I want you."

His grin curves immensely as it grows to immense proportions, going so far as to reach the visible edge of his face.

And then it happens again, force impacts Draga's chest, but with the hands in sight he can at least understand what happened slightly. The hole within them filled with blue light before a almost invisible beam of energy shot from all of them towards his gut.

It was too fast to dodge, but it gave him an idea what he was working against at least.

As Draga is sent flying down and backwards, he gets a chance to watch the mans attacks, noting that the sky blue color on his hands was still there. It wasn't much, but it meant he might have a kind of signal that he could use to defeat him.

It didn't mean a whole lot a second later when the hands from earlier grip the back of his coat and hold him directly in front of another glowing panel

* * *

Draga sighs, looking at the confident man standing above him.

"Let's get on with it, then."

His wings beat, propelling him rapidly away from his foe, but his enemy seems completely nonplussed.

It was... Disheartening to see what happened next.

Running away was apparently useless as but a moment later his enemy vanishes in a burst of green before appearing directly behind Draga with an arm impacting his spine.

 _God dammit!_

Draga reacts quickly, spinning around rapidly to roundhouse kick his opponent in his head, but the attack phases through him without resistance.

Like just a moment prior, the hands- those blasted hands- grip his limbs and hold him before the light of yet another mirror.

* * *

The world was different again, the shade of the expanse darker like what happened the first time he peered into one of those brilliant lights.

As expected, his sneering assailant materializes in front of him.

"What's the point of all of this?"

The man doesn't answer, but text appears above his head regardless.

 **[ERROR]**

 **W.D. GASTER, The Schrodinger's God**

 _Oh dear._

Schrodinger wasn't someone on Disboard, but Sora knew about his thought experiments on the theory of quantum states pretty well.

Encountering the god of something like duality... That's just not fair. That's like asking someone to solve a meta-paradox; it's just never gonna bloody happen. Even if he somehow figured out a weakness to the guy, that would also be something he was completely immune to.

 _You know what, I'm sick of this shit, this world, the game, the various gods, and definitely this fucking fight; screw it all._

He stands before Gaster, or GASTER as the nameplate called him, in complete resignation.

"Get it over with."

Gaster smiles, or rather smiles more, and complies with Draga's directions.

* * *

 _How long has it been? Hours?_

Methodically, Gaster had continued to put Draga in front of those panels only to seemingly reset everything. Certainly more panels were black, but there didn't seem to be an end in sight...

But then there was. After what felt like an eternity of being blinded only to be forced to do it again, Draga was in front of the last white panel in sight.

 _Go ahead, Gaster._

The 'man' in question seemed to take his god damn time with it, but that was true of the most recent forty or so. Perhaps he was just as bored as himself with it all?

There were hundreds of the cursed things, after all.

 _Man... I miss-._

He stops, his mind searching for the correct thing to put in that sentence, but nothing comes to mind.

It didn't matter, he supposed.

 _I mean, what do I have to miss?_

As if in answer, a single tear falls down his face without explanation. He didn't feel sad, and within this infinite void there certainly wasn't anything in his eye.

 _So why...?_

A sigh escapes his lips, one of many within his time here.

 _I don't remember._

It was better to forget. What you don't know can't hurt you, after all.

 _That's right... It's better to forget..._

As Gaster holds him up to the last panel, the both of them smile, although for different reasons.

One had won.

And the other had remembered a single thing in his last moments, something that brought at least a little comfort to the end.

"Goodbye, Grim."

* * *

Grim blinks away the sudden change in lighting, his eyes rapidly adjusting to the differences in the world around him. It was dark, that much was clear, but deciphering anything else was a lost endeavor.

Everywhere around was just... black.

That was a horrible sign, it truly was, but it also meant that trying to find Draga here was pretty futile. Even with the limitations of his Nevermore body removed, such as limited field of vision and movement speed, the space was just too large.

He needed some way to narrow it down...

As he sorts through what he sees, looking for a white rectangle in the distance somewhere, he notes a tiny sliver of white.

Not a mirror, but white nonetheless.

It was himself, or rather his face, in the distance.

 ** _Hello darkness, my old friend._**

He speeds off to his erstwhile corpse, finding it in exactly the same condition as he left it: bruised and battered. It was slightly unfortunate, but battle damage carried over into soul constructs.

Not that it really mattered much for his purposes.

Grim settles his soul into his old form, taking control of it.

It's hard to describe what that felt like, really. The best Grim could come up with on short notice was 'OW!'

But it didn't matter, he had a body now. There was only one thing to do...

Grim closes his eyes, his breath slowing down as he shuts out the outside world, something that was invariably easy when everything was silent and still around you. He focuses on his breathing, tracking the flow of air and blood throughout his body every heartbeat.

And then he feels it, a barely recognizable ember out in the distance representing Draga's soul.

Grim is back to the world a second, the effects of meditation fading as he extends the claws of his bracers.

 _I've come to talk with you again._

He didn't have wings as a human, but in this realm it didn't matter. He pretty much knew Draga wouldn't figure it out, but you could propel yourself with your thoughts.

So he does, dashing off as a blur towards the distant spec that he knew had to be... Him...

Grim pulls to a stop, noting the resigned look on Draga's face as Gaster hoists him towards the last mirror within sight.

 _No._

Grim shoots forward, blades poised to interrupt the process...

But the panels turns white.

"Goodbye, Grim."

* * *

 **So, normally I'd totally leave this as a cliffhanger, but I haven't reached the minimum 3700 words yet, so I can't. All well.**

 **I mean, I wouldn't possibly want to waste your time with useless text, now would I?**

 **Obviously, I'm joking; I'm just messing with you.**

 **Here's the resolution of the event.**

* * *

As the light blinds Draga, he accepts the end with open arms...

But then it doesn't come.

 _What?_

He opens his eyes, watching as the light dims back to what it was prior to his visit. Even more confusing was what he sees around him, the veritable army of them turning from black to a very dim gray.

 ** _Remember!_**

Draga shudders as the word rebounds in his head, causing him to brush up against an unmoving Gaster while he falls backwards.

His focus stolen by the recurring headache, the and the flow of information returning to his mind, he doesn't even notice the fact that he actually touched his opponent.

But Grim does.

* * *

In between the gaps in an eyes frames, Grim dashes forward and slams his armored fist into the side of the monsters head, sending him flying out of sight. With a slight huff in the already disappearing spec's direction, Grim turns his attention to writhing Draga.

"Come on; we gotta get out of here."

His words fell on deaf ears as Draga howls in agony, the memories of all the pain he's suffered in his entire lifetime being relived in the span of a few seconds.

Grim merely watches, unwilling to stop the process even if he were able to. Draga needed his memories, after all.

 _Hey, wait a second..._

He pauses, looking at Draga contemplatively.

 _What about the memories Tet blocked off, or the game?_

He doesn't dwell on it, but for the first time in history it's not because something was stopping him. No, this time there was a way to figure it out. Noting that all of the mirrors were white, he grabs Draga and pulls him back to reality.

* * *

 **Haha, you fools. You thought I only had one cliffhanger didn't you?**

 **Oh, and I did just spoil the next universe. None of you should mind; Undertale is awesome.**

 **So, I am gonna once again invite you to join me on The Souls Of All at tsoa dot freeforums dot net.**


	45. Reason-7

The pair collapse on the ground, both sucking in air from their mirrored positions along the grass. It was relaxing to be out here, sprawled out among peaceful surroundings.

With a light chuckle, Schwarz smiles up at the sky.

"Hey Draga-."

He leaves the sentence open, obviously waiting for a 'what', something Draga was willing to say despite the poignancy of the unspoken request.

"What?"

"We *heh heh* really gotta stop meeting like this. People are *heh* gonna start talking."

Draga matches his chuckle, the smile coming naturally to him now.

"Let them talk; there's nobody I'd rather be with right now."

That renews their collective uproar, but it eventually dies down as the high caused by leaving the Mirror Plane fades.

Like all good things, their cloud gazing must come to an end.

"Gri-."

Draga cuts himself off, remembering one of the man in question's stories.

"Schwarz... What was that?"

And then it was gone, the exhilaration swept away by only three words.

Schwarz rolls over, giving himself the ability to look directly at Draga. After a moment, the fifth Gamer does the same, allowing for a face to face conversation.

"That, my friend, was the Mirror Plane. I suppose you could call it the Quantum Realm or the Dreamscape as well. It's a space that shows everything that makes up you and everything that makes up everyone else. In essence, it's your mind, but it's also everyone's mind."

Draga raises an eyebrow at that, but his question is more pointed than Schwarz expected.

"And what does yours look like?"

That causes a single chuckle to escape his lips.

"Why, it looks a lot like yours, except for one key difference."

He pauses for dramatic effect, something that clearly annoys Draga.

"There are only two mirrors."

Draga plants his face into the ground, displaying his disappointment at that, but then it comes back up with a raised eyebrow.

"Why would we have such a drastic difference?"

Schwarz frowns that that, thoughts whizzing through his head as he rolls back over.

"The mirrors represent memory, but it's a bit more complicated than that. The brightness of the world represents basic knowledge, like math and stuff, while anything that fills it represents a person."

Draga pauses at that, mixed emotions running along his expression outside Schwarz's line of sight.

"So... You only remember two people? How does that make any sense?"

Schwarz snorts, the sound transforming into a full blown fit of laughter as he rolls around on the floor.

"Heavens no! It means something different entirely."

He takes a moment to compose himself, providing just enough control to elaborate on that.

"Each mirror represents exactly one person you care about."

Draga's blank expression as he looks at Schwarz conveys his non-verbal message quite clearly.

"Yes, you're on that list you guttersnipe."

With an obviously over-inflated grin, Draga asks the obvious question.

"And who's the other person?"

Schwarz doesn't answer right away, his eyes captivated by a single star visible during these afternoon hours. After letting out a lengthy sigh and putting up a sad smile, Schwarz manages to say it with a level tone.

"I-... *Ahem* She was... Her name was Nacht Branwen, and she was a highschool sweetheart."

That seems to confuse Draga, although his expression is difficult to read from the floor. It didn't help that he seemed to be processing something this entire time.

"Question."

"Answer."

Draga doesn't even react to that, going straight into asking.

"If you remember your crush from 80 years ago fondly enough for a mirror, what happened with your family?"

The words were cautious, apparently suspecting something traumatic or rebellious occuring in his past.

He was wrong.

"I came from a hunter family. When I said people are lucky to reach the age of sixty, I meant them. I can remember only a few dates from them: their birthdays and the days they died, for example."

Schwarz sighs, Draga not disturbing his retelling.

"I was only gone for four years by then, and people forget a lot over more than seventy. I had it worse because I was essentially living millions of lives at once, even if I know nothing of the vast majority of them."

Schwarz's sad smile returns, his eyes glazing over as he envisions past events with almost perfect clarity.

"Nacht, though. She was something else. She was always in angry at someone, annoyed at something, or sad about an event, so I was with her until she died just a few years ago to a... White Fang attack. She... Nacht, even when she was depressed, always fought harder than anyone else. She raised a strong family, one that's alive to this day, and..."

He mumbles a bit more, not allowing Draga to hear the last words.

But he knew what he said.

 _And... And even kept my children alive..._

The twins, Monody and Windfall, hadn't been born before Schwarz's transformation and it was hard to become attached to someone you only saw during moments of sadness or anger.

At least he knew they lived well. They rarely appeared after their toddler faze, and usually it was pain rather than anything else. Windfall was a pretty ironic name, actually, since he certainly didn't move like it; more like a cross eyed rhino who recently got hit with a stun grenade in a field of cacti.

 _Nah, that's a bit much. I wouldn't want to insult the rhino._

Monody was doing well, last he knew. She didn't become a hunter, instead turning to performance where her ability to control vibrations allowed her music to be perfect from everywhere in the building.

 _Shame I didn't see her very often..._

"Ready to get back on the road?"

Schwarz blinks, looking around as if he's surprised that reality was still there.

"Uh..."

He leaps off the ground to his feet, stumbling forward a moment before catching himself against a tree.

 _Man, it's gonna take a while to get used to my body again. Eighty years, huh?_

"Yeah, sure. Still want to go to Gerrusan with me?"

Draga poses as if he was seriously thinking about it, but his not-quite-repressed coy smile gave it away instantly.

"Onwards and forwards."

It takes a moment to orient themselves, using the setting sun to do so, but they make their way the remaining trek to Gerrusan.

* * *

Draga sighs, but keeps it to himself. He didn't want to bother Schwarz further after essentially forcing him to relive several tragic events.

His memories coming back wasn't nearly as important, after all. While he remembered the game, nobody had nameplates and none of the powers from the previous timeline were available, so all it meant is he now knew everything he could do within this one...

And that Tet had a lot to answer for.

A lot of people did, actually. Ozpin, Tzeench, and Draco all had plenty reasons to be dealt with, but Tet had to come first.

Hiding his family from him after all of that work and banishing him from his home world in the process... That just wouldn't do.

Nonetheless, you needed to be quite a lot stronger than he was to face a god, much less one that was effectively omnipotent.

 _I just can't get a break._

Unfortunately, he has to make a correction to that statement.

 _I just can't get a break and not have it interrupted._

Speaking of which...

* * *

"How do we always get into these kinds of messes?"

Schwarz laughs once at him, his metal claws rending the flesh of another Alpha Beowulf.

"Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd assume it's the fact that you're throwing around lightning. Not exactly subtle."

Draga laughs too, tearing apart an Ursa's throat with his more biological claws.

"I suppose, but what do you expect from me? I just found out that I COULD still shoot lightning."

Schwarz questions the emphasis on 'COULD' until he turns around to see Draga shooting it around like a Tesla coil, blowing apart trees and zapping up a fairly impressive kill count.

 _Well, that's one way to show enthusiasm._

Schwarz smirks.

 _But then there's mine._

Schwarz sprints towards a nearby Ursa, using it's reflexive defense of standing on its hind legs to his advantage by springboarding off of the creatures moving head towards the sky.

Whilst in the air, Schwarz does a flip to gain the momentum needed to pierce a nearby Nevermore, impaling the wing far enough to be dragged behind by his right arm.

Using both of his bracers in sequence, Schwarz drags himself along the massive creatures wings to its body despite the rushing wind trying to force him off of it. Using his already prepared weapon to tear it's back to ribbons he absorb its being into himself.

While falling to the ground at near terminal velocity, of course.

When nearing the ground, Schwarz summons the Nevermore beneath him, the beasts soft back providing just enough of a cushion to block the force of the fall before dying yet again from his heavy impact, returning to Schwarz as smoke after death.

Schwarz pats his clothes down, returning them to their more or less natural state.

"Yo, Draga, I got what I needed. Shall we be off?"

Batting away the offending limb of yet another Ursa, Draga leaps back to his companion.

"Yeah. So, are we getting a lift to Gerrusan?"

He was, of course, referring to the Nevermore that was just captured, so Schwarz opens his mouth to speak but someone else answers.

"I would imagine we could provide that for you."

The both of them spin around fast enough that any normal human would snap most of their spine, getting a look at the new speaker.

They were... Disappointed, actually. The man seemed to be in a military uniform of some kind, having an almost white camouflage getup and a standard issue assault rifle in hand. He seemed to have other weapons, including what looked like a machete, but nothing particularly amazing.

Like they were to talk, though. They both just used claws and their special powers.

Then again, when you both have different ways of attaining flight or range combat outside of your weapon, what need have you of a gun?

"Who are you?"

The man doesn't answer with words, but instead points to a nametag on ordinary-bullet proof suit.

It said 'Lt. Voltaire'.

"Ah. I am Schwarz and this is my partner Draga. We're here to meet with the king of Gerrusan."

The man narrows his eyes slightly, but turns around to gesture for them to follow.

All this time... The Grimm weren't moving.

"Uh, Voltaire... Why aren't the Grimm attacking us?"

The man in questions smiles, but does so while facing away from the pair, so it's only clear that he's amused from his tone.

"You'll see."

Suspicion obvious to anyone with even the slightest ability to understand expressions, Schwarz and Draga follow after the man from a few meters behind.

As they walk a rather lengthy trail, they pass quite the variety of Grimm just watching them without even so much as growling. Voltaire deflected all the questions, of course, but he did say one thing of interest.

At least, of interest to Schwarz who knew the title of the previous king.

"The White King will answer all of your questions."

* * *

"Draga..."

The Gamer in question turns to face Schwarz, his gaze knowing and sagely despite being in almost as bad a boat as the man he's looking towards.

"Yeah, buddy?"

Schwarz is about to talk, but then the driver of the airship swerves around another overly tall tree.

And there goes Schwarz's 80 year old lunch.

"Remind me... To kill this man."

Schwarz was not someone to normally suffered from motion sickness, but when traveling upwards of 100 miles an hour driven by this maniac? Jaune might get sick enough that he died.

Good news, though: it only took a minute for the demon-ship ride to be over.

Draga lets out a piece of a smile, holding up Schwarz as he steps off the doomsday device to the relative comfort of hard concrete.

It was a bit strange that he hadn't cared about his wings, but people were strange. At least he was given plenty of time to hide them within the confines of the floating coffin.

"Welcome to Gerrusan."

Draga whirls around, accidentally dropping Schwarz in the process, to face the new figure atop the airship.

It was a man dressed in a snazzy white suit and matching bola hat, someone Draga recognized with his newly reacquired memories.

 _Roman._

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He taps his weaponized cane against the roof of the airship, his face looking up as if contemplating how to answer.

"I suppose you could think of this as a business venture. They need more dust than anyone else, so I provide it in bulk and get payed handsomely. You, on the other hand, have a little explaining to do."

Draga frowns, his eyes peering towards the man cautiously.

"And what could I possibly have to explain to a criminal like yourself?"

Roman mirrors his frown at that.

"I'm insulted. My workers may complain a bit, but I am no lowly criminal. The Torchwick Dust Company functions off of entirely legal channels."

 _The what?_

Both Draga and Schwarz had the same thought, represented perfectly in their collective head turn.

It takes a moment for their brains to churn out the same answer.

This wasn't the same world anymore.

Schwarz definitely had more evidence, particularly in that he knew Roman never got anywhere near Gerrusan within his reality, but it wasn't too hard to understand from the information the orange haired man provided.

"What's wrong?"

Roman skips off the roof, getting a closer view of the two people who cocked their heads and seemed to fade from reality.

The impact of his shoes against the solid ground jarred them awake, although not quite to full awareness. It was a bit hard to process, at least for Schwarz, that an entirely new reality had supplanted his own.

Or... It could just be a new one, right?

That was what they'd bet on, at least for now. Changing a universe was likely a lot harder to do than making a new one, at least in regards to working in the past. Gods, like Tet, could probably make limitless dimensions with ease.

Draga shudders at the impact, reflexively stepping away from Roman, but rapidly recovers his composure in tandem with Schwarz.

"Nothing, just a bit lost in thought. Are you taking us to the White King, then?"

He nods, flipping his cane to his shoulder with practiced ease.

"Best not keep him waiting, you two. He's been... Expecting you two."

 _Gee, and that's not ominous._

Fortunately, Roman seems to miss his conflicted expression, so he leads them off without a comment escaping his slightly curved upward lips.

 _Onwards and forwards._

* * *

To say Gerrusan was spectacular would be an insult to everything else that had been described with that adjective, but it was definitely grand. The sheer scope of this city would be impossible to overstate without saying it spanned an entire continent. It was mostly concrete and metal, very bland surfaces to look at, but the complex architecture and massive skyrises made up for it.

The buildup of the place was payed off in epic fashion by a massive chrome palace sprawled across the center of the city in a pointed star shape. Based on the quantity of people and airships going in and out of the structure, it's size wasn't just decoration either.

Roman led them directly through the front gates, nobody even asking why Draga or Schwarz were there.

"Welcome to GHQ, or Gerrusan Headquarters. This is the military and political center. The King lives somewhere in here, but I've only ever encountered him in his office."

As he explains all of this with sweeping gestures at places that aren't yet visible or they are already inside of, the party pass plenty of evidence that this place was very high in technology. Machines neither of his companions had ever encountered littered the place like it was a vast future science fair on steroids, and even that wasn't doing it justice.

Hell, Draga caught sight of a full-dive capsule similar to what the Werebeasts had back on Disboard.

The implications were unsettling to both of them, despite the architecture itself being nearly identical to that of the previous version, but they were efficiently cut from dwelling on it by the sparkling monument to human progress that was The White Kings 'office'. While there was a fairly standard issue desk and the lights hanging from the ceiling weren't decorated gold chandeliers, the place just screamed wealth.

The floors were coated entirely in obviously expensive carpets and felt, the value only exaggerated further by the intricate designs and pictures built into it with the complex array of coloration. Speaking of floor, the floor-space in this room was likely more than two or three throne rooms of the Elkia Castle, and that's cutting out the massive amounts of surface area covered by the various tables and machines flooding the room like a warehouse tsunami rolled in.

The room seemed to be empty of people, for the moment, but that was quickly corrected as a man dressed in a white suit similar to Romans and a white shinigami mask falls from the ceiling, taking a stance next to the desk and giving greetings.

"Welcome, travelers, to Gerrusan. What is the purpose of your arrival?"

Despite how it seemed, that was quite the loaded question. He gave literally zero information about himself while essentially requiring them to explain themselves.

All in 11 words.

 _Masterful technique, but two can play at that game._

Draga bows his head towards him for a brief moment before speaking in a mirrored tone to the masked mans blank emotionless tone.

"We have come to speak with the king regarding the Grimm."

11 words, yet again, and it only tells the barest hint of real insight while still being completely honest and straightforward.

 _Just try and weasel your way out of that one._

But, he doesn't. The masked figure nods, conveying his understanding without words, before flipping back up into the roof without further comment.

"I take it that wasn't the king in disguise?"

Both Roman and Schwarz nod, although Roman less uncertainty in it.

"He'll be here in a second."

As if on cue, a door near the corner of the room opens up, allowing passage of someone far more kingly.

Or, at least more kingly than the ninja from a moment ago.

"Hello, you two. Am I correct in calling you Draga and Schwarz?"

Not commenting on his knowledge of their names, Draga steps forward to reply.

"Yes, Jaune."

Yep... Draga's second to last fight in the first timeline was here and well with an entire kingdom under his belt.

How? Fuck if he knew.

 _And my life just gets harder and harder, doesn't it?_

Jaune was dressed in a snazzy suit as well, but this one decorated with gold trim in a way Draga's almost positive Roman designed based on the numerous instances of fire, and had a genuine crown sitting atop his head, mostly composed of silver and what looked like, from a distance, clear quartz.

He didn't look armed, either, meaning he was unlike anyone else they'd seen in this place. Everyone outside had some kind of weapon on them, although it wasn't nearly as complex as a hunter weapon.

Usually it was just a sword, like what the ninja guy had, but a sword is quite the powerful weapon in the hands of a master.

Jaune, though... Held nothing.

"Fabulous. What about the Grimm are you interested in talking about?"

Schwarz takes over at that, moving to stand between Draga and Jaune.

"That would be me, actually. I have information regarding Grimm experiments that I'd like to confirm."

Jaune's interest is perked at that, so he takes a seat at his desk and leans forward for the explanation.

"I had been informed that Gerrusan was researching mutant Grimm, and was informed that they actually finished them, but they needed a way to control them."

Jaune nods, but says an affirmative anyway.

"That's right."

Schwarz inhales, building up the mental fortitude needed to take the following risk.

"They won't find a way. The only reason Grimm seem to have any intelligence is because of me."

He triggers his semblance, the Nevermore he captured earlier wrenching itself from his body and sitting on the floor, looking around in wait. It wasn't under his command or anything, but it knew what would happen if it openly attacked.

Grimm felt pain, after all.

Jaune narrows his eyes at that, visibly insulted.

"I think thou dost protest too much."

It was obviously sarcastic as he clarifies that sentence quite expertly.

"They're looking for their own way to control the Grimm for one specific reason."

He pauses for dramatic effect, standing up to cut as a more imposing figure for his last five words. He even raises his hands upwards, his body glowing with a pure white aura.

"To try and overthrow me."

This time actually on cue, Grimm pool up from the ground and take their places in a perfect circle around the trio, although Roman seems to vanish after a simple wave.

Not that anybody payed it much attention. After all, a massive circle of Grimm you don't recognize that appear from nowhere is quite the engaging thing.

Adding insult to injury, a single glance to Schwarz's Nevermore was all it took to make it turn to its own with glowing red eyes.

 _Oh boy..._

* * *

 **Greetings human beings, 'tis I, the god of messing this up horribly. Welcome to the RWBY AU I like to call 'Tremor'. I won't spoil a ton of what's going on, but I will mention a few things right off the bat.**

 **The Schnee Dust Company was bought out long before it became the inter-kingdom success it was in canon, but the Torchwick family followed a similar evolution with their newly acquired company. Of course, there was a bit more illegal activity, but guess what... All that racism and classicism the SDC is famous for? Never happened. Roman and his peeps have some integrity, after all. People aren't exactly treated well in the mining industry, but not poorly either.**

 **Gerrusan is publicly known to the world, unlike the 'canon' version. The kingdom is actually more successful thanks to this, thanks to in large part the TDC.**

 **And several characters are vastly more powerful. I won't say who in particular I made truly badass, but Jaune obviously is.**

 **Alright, guys, that's the wrap. Hope you enjoyed the introduction of Gerrusan and Tremor.**


	46. Reason-8

Jaune smirks, the confidence and smug plain for all to see.

"So, I am going to offer you a choice."

Draga raises an eyebrow, his eyes still watching the circle of Grimm attentively.

"And what would that be?"

Jaune taps the table a few times with his finger, adding a dramatic pause to the moment.

"You could work for me here..."

He gestures to the castle around them.

"Or you can be killed right now."

Now, when I say deadpan, I normally mean a totally blank expression, but Draga somehow figured out how to put disbelief into his.

"You're kidding, right? That's not a choice."

Jaune laughs once, letting out an amused sigh.

"That's where you're wrong, my friend. Adding a little incentive doesn't actually remove the fact that you do have a choice."

Draga's narrowed eyes say otherwise, but he holds his tongue. It was actually rather draining to have so much patience wasted when you're accustomed to either instant victory or a draw. This... This was a prolonged loss.

"I would say I have no other choice, but that would be kind of mute now..."

Jaune smirks, leaning back in his office chair.

"As long as you agree, I don't really care for what reasons."

He cracks his neck once in each direction, letting out a small sigh with each satisfying pop.

"Okay, here's the deal. Vladimir Tsarinoff, the former supreme leader of Gerrusan, escaped during the takeover. I know he's not working with the Gerrusan scientists directly, but I'm almost positive he's plotting something."

He leans down to open a drawer, pulling out a map of Gerrusan and laying it down upon the desk. With a single gesture, he beckons them forth through a newly created gap in the circle of Grimm.

"Currently, I am the military of Gerrusan. Due to my hostile takeover of their main facility and legislature, the Gerrusan government is taking its sweet time sorting itself out, and that includes the military. Making matters more confusing, the old military was technically an independant company."

He gestures towards a large section of the map to the north, circling a specific building with his finger.

"I need you to do the obvious thing and capture or kill Vlad, but I also need you to take back my equipment from the White Shark."

He taps directly on the previously circled building.

"If my intel is correct, both should be somewhere in this massive warehouse and docking area. At the very least, though, the White Shark will be; it's too large to be stowed away anywhere else."

Draga finally interrupts, gesturing to the entire district in general with both hands.

"And we're supposed to bypass an entire military force, presumably with some pretty experienced and skilled people, all the while needing to carry a bunch of stuff we can't even use and possibly another person who would be resisting?"

Jaune nods.

 _Ugh..._

"And what do we get out of it, besides not dying, I mean?"

Jaune actually seems to contemplate that, showing the first sliver of humanity under his thus far sadistic persona.

Not that it lasted very long.

After a momentary glance behind Schwarz and Draga, Jaune makes up his mind.

"Technically everyone gets something out of this, specifically a more peaceful world sooner, but I guess sacrifices must be made."

He doesn't elaborate, but he wasn't finished either. He gestures for them to follow as he strolls out of the room, taking a stairway behind the door he originally walked through to a lower floor of the building.

So down and down into the depths they go.

* * *

The underground of The Citadel, as Jaune called it on the way down, was apparently quite expansive. They passed by multiple laboratories, many of them strangely empty but others busy as scientists hurriedly go about their business.

It wasn't exactly strange, but the glimpses he got to see through the vertical windows on each door was more than sufficient to change that perspective. While most had standard lab equipment, likely for medical and mathematical purposes, or weapon storage rooms for what looked like specked out machine guns, a few were more than suspicious.

Draga witnessed three different rooms, all of them adjacent to each other, that were storing strapped down humans.

After the first, Draga was more attentive, and actually understood at least partially what was going on in the other two.

It wasn't torture or the kind of unethical lab experiments happen in all those superhero movies...

They were vivisecting them.

Or, rather, they had taken a break from vivisecting them, which was probably worse. The three, all males from what he saw, had their chest open right before their seemingly fully aware eyes.

 _And I thought the unethical lab experiments conducted on Lifepool were bad..._

The kind of mental anguish they must be feeling...

Unfortunately, the enlarged Beowulf's behind him were a constant reminder that he didn't have a choice in what went on here, at least yet.

 _If I could just knock him out..._

The problem with something like that was the Grimm themselves. When Draga died after summoning **Surga** , she didn't go away. If the same happened to his Grimm...

He could only imagine the havoc that would be unleashed.

Of course, Schwarz seemed to be going through similar revelations, although with far less emotional impact, likely due to his experiences over his century of life.

 _Actually... How old is he? Do his 80 years count?_

There wasn't much way to answer that, now was there?

"Alright, here we are."

Draga looks up from his thoughts, just barely pulling himself to a stop before slamming into Jaune.

"Wow... Okay. This is different."

While a few rooms they'd encountered had experimental equipment, likely laser weapons based on their shape, this one looked like a compact futuristic armory.

The well over ten meter tall walls had every inch filled with rack after rack of weapons, most of them a wide collection on the general idea of 'shoot the thing until it dies', but some melee weapons and what looked like metal portable containers mixed in. It was quite an assortment, to say the least.

Armor was there as well, in various kinds of capsules around the floor space of the room. They seemed functional, he guessed, but they'd have to be pretty cool for either of them to accept the added weight.

"Alright, you two, I am going to make you the best offer you're going to get. You can pick anything you can carry specifically in your hands to take with you."

 _Man, if only I had GASTER's powers right now; he'd eat those words._

"Any questions?"

Draga raises his hand before realizing he didn't have to.

"Uh, yeah. What if we need something you don't have?"

Jaune chokes on his laugh, actually willing to lose his previously combative appearance just to mock the bearer of shitty questions.

Draga taps his foot while waiting, taking the spare time to look around at the specific weaponry. The guns, despite the minor differences, appeared to be just guns. The melee weapons, though, obviously had some pretty cool shit going on in the background. Even just in vision, he could see a scythe that...

 _Wait..._

All the weapons were gun metal gray or black, but he recognized some of the weapons...

Or rather a lot of them.

 _Let's see... Ruby... Weiss... Nora... Ren... Pyrrha... Coco, I think..._

Draga's hand comes up faster than he would have thought possible, it sliding down the surface of his face while he stares down at the most impractical thing to be in here.

Glynda Goodwitch's riding crop.

Made of metal.

 _What are these guys even doing? Just... Copying everyone's weapons?_

That was exactly what they were doing, actually. What was strange, though, was the halfheartedness of the remakes. How was a riding crop, for instance, supposed to be used when it was just a solid hunk of metal?

Better yet, how did Glynda even use the thing? Draga hadn't witnessed her actually fighting before.

Not that it really mattered. The flexible whip like properties were key, and steel clearly lacked that kind of feature.

Actually, there was only one 'weapon' that wouldn't be changed from being entirely gray steel...

Two anchors sat in the corner with lengthy chains attached to them.

 _You know, I could actually use those._

His claws offered an effective melee weapon and he had lightning for ranged attacks, but the anchors could be used to haul enemies around or tie them down, plus the strength offered by the game increased by a bit of training should be more than enough to at least use the things, if a bit stiff and awkwardly.

"Alright, Schwarz, I'm in. You?"

The man in question turns to meet his gaze.

"I suppose, if you're digging in, of course."

He says that, but a simple glance down towards his hands would reveal him already taking Yang's Ember Celica in black.

Honestly, considering his weaponry up to this point, it was pretty fitting. The only real question was how everything was going to work.

Thanks to the photographic memory and ability to see every component of the complex weapons he'd had in the first timeline, he was fully aware of just how flexible and malleable the various pieces of most of these weapons needed to be. He didn't have the same luxury here, but...

Draga reaches over, picking up Glynda's replica riding crop experimentally. If it was gonna work, than it had to bend without breaking.

And it did... Actually.

 _Huh..._

The weapon was obviously still the hard metal he'd first seen, the texture going a long way to giving that impression, but it... It was wholly flexible.

Making things even more confusing, the anchors and other weapons weren't, something he found out mere moments later.

"Jaune...?"

The White King raises an eyebrow, silently asking what it was he wanted.

"What are these made out of?"

Jaune smirks, visibly laughing once.

"The material's creation is a state secret, but I guess I can tell you what it is. We call it Echo Steel, and it is capable of copying any inorganic construct in everything but appearance and texture, and often durability. It is still technically steel, after all."

 _That certainly fits, but that sounds far more useful than anything else... There has to be some kind of drawback._

Unfortunately, if the creation of it was a state secret, he probably wouldn't describe any disadvantages.

Draga sighs, standing up with only the pair of anchors with him, the chains wrapped around his waist to hold the quite heavy pieces to him. It was clear by the weight that he would need to build up some muscle before he could just throw it around, but he could at least run with them.

That was all he needed to train.

"Alright, I have one last question. How strong a military are we talking."

Jaune actually seems to ponder that himself, the answer taking quite a bit longer than expected to arise.

"Most of the soldiers would be just above rent-a-cops, but the ASA Program turned out quite a few hunter level people. My guess is that if you get caught you're dead."

He shrugs, a blank expression returning to his face.

"Best not get caught, then. Good luck."

With that, Jaune turns on his heel and walks right out the door, leaving them to handle the whole operation themselves.

Not that it was unexpected.

Schwarz, while fitting the new gauntlets over his bracers, gestures to the same door and the exit it represents.

"Shall we be off?"

Draga sighs, but a smile takes over as it ends.

"Onwards and forwards."

* * *

Turns out that training is a lot harder without the game directly messing with you. He'd never really felt tired during the time it was gone, but the effects of exhaustion seemed to hit him as if he was human, although Aura was definitely helping.

Magic wasn't a safe spot either, his 'MP' regenerating significantly slower than before.

 _Man, the game was really OP in terms of healing, wasn't it?_

Obviously it was in the first timeline, but he didn't think he was too ridiculous in the most recent one.

Then again, most people don't heal from all injuries (HP) in less than a minute, so...

Nevermind.

"Schwarz, how's the shotgun gauntlets going?"

He seemed to have it a bit easier, the weapons just adding a ranged component to his already functional fighting style.

Funny enough, Draga had a fighting style still. He might not have a skill for it, but he remembered each of his skills, which would include the art of the Blind Fist.

In a stealth operation, it was actually going to be quite the valuable martial art.

Speaking of remembering skills, a question was left for him: could he replicate his earlier skills. It would be significantly harder without the game and virtually infinite MP, but the memories of how to cast and even the technical processes behind them were still within his memories.

Well, most of them anyway. Lotus, the Gamer Skills, and Magic Mastery were all out.

That wasn't the most important part, though. Gelap, a skill he learned that cuts out light in an area, would be almost invaluable on a stealth mission...

So if he could learn to use it, that'd be invaluable.

 _Plenty of time, but I should probably focus on the mission itself for now. If a skill will help with the operation, then I'll try and remaster it._

Draga nodded to himself, his gaze wandering to Schwarz cutting a tree apart with his claws before punching the upended piece into the distance, easily sending it flying with the force of his own fist and the shotgun blast.

 _We should do just fine._

* * *

 _People are stupid._

Okay, that requires innumerable asterisks to qualify it, so instead I'll just start from the beginning.

After working out a few more kinks in their respective fighting styles, Schwarz and Draga returned to Jaune to get a burner scroll for the both of them and ask what it was they were looking for specifically. Once completed, they IP spoofed Draga's scroll to just inside the boundary of the facility and made a quick call to their directory.

A woman's voice, likely a secretary of some kind, greeted them.

"Hello, this is the Gerrusan Military Company main building. How can I help you?"

Schwarz, being the one with the more militaristic voice, was the one to reply.

"I have a question, actually. I was told that we were keeping the White Kings bo staff in the White Shark, but recently I was told that it was being moved to a smaller craft, but they didn't name it. Could you clear that up for me?"

There was some barely audible typing in the background, likely of her checking for the information.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have record of any such transfer. May I ask where you heard of it?"

Schwarz lets out a relieved sigh, fake of course, and answers readily.

"It was just part of the rumor mill, you know, but I was a bit worried. Anything but the largest defense won't hold up to the White King."

The secretary pauses for a moment, waiting for Schwarz to say something else, but when he doesn't she wraps up the call.

"That's right, now I must be getting back to scheduling, so take care."

"Take care."

The call ends, and Schwarz and Draga smile at each other.

"I said we didn't need all that spy nonsense or hacking."

Schwarz rolls his eyes, but the smile gives away his amusement at how simple getting the information they needed was.

The White Shark held the staff they were looking for, so all they needed now was to infiltrate the ship...

And find Vladimir, apparently. Asking his whereabouts, regardless of how professional you sounded, would bring about suspicion.

Draga mulls it over for a while, trying to come up with an idea while practicing a simple kata for the Blind Fist.

And then it dawns on him, a literal lightbulb made of electricity appearing above his head before fizzling out a moment later.

"I have an idea of how to find him."

Schwarz pauses in the middle of his own exercise, his being more strength training than technique practice.

"And that would be...?"

Draga scoffs at him, acting as if he was in disbelief at the idea, but he stops being facetious after Schwarz levels a particularly sharp glare at him.

"Alright, alright, cool it. I didn't get an air affinity, since I never killed Sora in this timeline, but there's nothing stopping me from getting a new one the normal way."

Schwarz raises an eyebrow, apparently intrigued by that.

"And how do you 'normally' get an air affinity?"

That actually causes Draga to pause, realizing that the only one he got naturally was fire.

But then he realizes something else...

He was still using game logic, but the game wasn't there.

"Every power I've ever used has come from skill books, which would require it having the ability to teach a technique to start with, leveling up my stats, which are innate powers that have nothing to do with affinity, have been evolutions of already existing abilities which doesn't help, or have been acquired through doing."

He holds out his hand, imagining a ball of condensed air appearing within the space that occupied it. He could feel a drag on his MP, slowly sucking it out from his palm as it, in turn, forces the air together into a slightly visible cloud of condensed oxygen, nitrogen, and water vapor.

This might not sound like much, but it was huge for his plans.

"With or without the game, anything that can be done I can do with enough time. Mastering the elements is just another step towards that goal."

With that, Draga spends the next few hours figuring out just how he can mess with the air.

* * *

Okay, this would take way too long to explain the process of how he discovered all of it, so I'll keep it nice and simple.

With the air, Draga learned to:

1, Condense or expand the air near him.

2, Change the direction of already moving air, including at a distance.

3, Propel the air around himself, for an unfortunately high cost in 'MP'.

4, Coat himself in air or surround himself in a vacuum (The latter of which was really painful to discover since he needs to breathe now...)

None of that was what he actually wanted, but it was all useful.

 _But how can I get the kind of sense I get with Electrical Silhouette?_

Being able to sense the air and the movements of it would lead to immense strategic value both in reconnaissance and in combat. Knowing where you enemy was and what they were doing when outside of your sight; being able to detect things from a large distance, potentially even to the range of understanding conversation; anything, really, would be more than enough to make the time spent worthwhile.

Despite all the incentives and a basic understanding of how his power worked, the question of how to acquire exactly what he wanted remained.

The obvious answer was try and develop a air version of Electrical Silhouette, but the question came up on whether it was blocked by the deal he made in the last timeline, the one that blocked out his semblance.

Plus, making that skill from scratch was probably a lot harder than what he was looking for to begin with...

"Lost in thought there?"

Draga blinks a few times, his eyes slowly trailing towards Schwarz's sideways glance.

"It's just... I'm trying to create an entirely new technique without the game to tell me when I've even done it."

Schwarz lowers his arms, the tree in front of him silently thanking the gods for their mercy.

"What are you looking for specifically?"

Draga mulls over it for a second, coming up with two answers.

"Either the ability to sense air myself or the ability to create an air elemental which can do it for me."

Schwarz sighs, scratching his tilted head for a moment.

"That's... Actually pretty easy, the second one I mean."

He spins around, his leg slamming into the side of the last tree in the newly made clearing Schwarz had been creating...

And cutting straight through it, toppling the shape over.

Schwarz pats away the dust on his hands and pant legs before jogging over, dragging the defenseless maple tree behind him for unspecified reasons.

"Jaune- you remember him- was an elementalist, but he was doing it in a bit of a roundabout way. He was a Gamer, like yourself, so he got to cheat a bit on his skills, but his elementals were truly something else."

Schwarz starts tearing the bark of the tree apart, digging slightly further to get at the sap.

"When he acquired his elementals, he made a certain summoning ring. I wouldn't remember it if he didn't make it so many times."

While he speaks, he uses the stolen sap to start drawing the summoning circle on a nearby boulder.

"Besides that, you needed the element in question, but air should be completed automatically."

The circle is complete, the sticky resin sticking just well enough for the symbol to retain its form. There, lying upon the gray stone, was a pair of concentric circles with a five pointed star reaching from the center to the outer edge.

"And then you make a pledge with it."

Draga nods, just stunned. All of his work, and he could have been cheating off of Jaune all along.

God dammit.

 _All well... I can get the elemental now, right?_

Draga steps forward, his attention still focused on Schwarz to hear the pledge.

"I, Schwarz Himmel, call upon the ancient contract of ages past to summon thee."

"I, Draga Konungur, call upon the ancient contract of ages past to summon thee."

"I hope that you heed my call. Come, Earth Elemental."

"I hope that you heed my call. Come, Air Elemental."

In response, the stone vibrated slightly and the air hummed with arcane energy before stopping but a moment later.

Neither truly understood what was happening, but a face appeared before them on their respective elements. The one Draga could see was thinner than him and taller as well, but he seemed frail as well. Not helping was the silhouette quality he gave with his mostly transparent existence.

 _"I... Here. You... the Fifth. Why have you called upon me?"_

The words took form in Draga's thoughts, similar ones appearing within Schwarz's head. The words had a voice similar to Draga's own, but faster paced as if the elemental was impatient.

"I'll begin in accordance to the ancient rituals. My real name is Schwarz Himmel. You have heard my true name; please tell me yours."

While Schwarz seems lost in thought, or more likely the elementals speech, Draga does the same with his own.

"I'll begin in accordance to the ancient rituals. My real name is Draga Konungur. You have heard my true name; please tell me yours."

There is a slight pause before the elemental speaks.

 _"That is not your true name."_

And with that, the elemental swirls away into nothingness.

 _What?_

Draga looks down at himself, completely bewildered.

 _That can't be true... Right?_

While black licks at the edge of his vision, Draga catches a glimpse of Schwarz falling into unconsciousness upon the hard stone he marked not a minute prior.

 _Looks like we both failed..._

Into a sleep they go.

* * *

 **Man, I did almost all of this in a day... Could I actually match Ryuugi's schedule if I tried?**

 **Probably, but I have twice as long chapters, so I'd probably do bi-daily if I tried.**

 **Tell me, would you guys actually like me to do that? I'm genuinely curious, and I'd be willing to give it a test run if that's what you guys want. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? I play a few less rounds of league a day?**

 **Meh.**

 **And that's a wrap. Thank you for joining me in another episode of "How can we fuck with Draga today?"**


	47. Reason-9

Draga shoots up with a start, his eyes looking around in a slight panic, but the effect quickly fades as his brain starts working.

He was still in the forest area, as was Schwarz, and nothing seemed out of place. It was a small blessing, but safety was important when you were defenseless for hours.

As if on cue, Schwarz forces his eyes open and stretches, apparently having slept heavily too.

Actually... It was morning again, meaning they each slept for a good 12 hours or so. That was pretty long, and quite a bit of wasted training time, but...

 _I guess I need to sleep again..._

On the note of being human again, they needed food, something Draga only realized a moment later when his stomach helpfully reminded him.

"Schwarz, can you hunt?"

Draga watches as Schwarz's eyes narrow dangerously, obviously insulted by the question.

"You do realize what my profession is, right? Hunters are taught to hunt in their second year if they don't know already."

A palm against his forehead, Draga concedes the point.

"My bad, so can you go get breakfast?"

Schwarz's eyebrow raises, but his glare ends.

"You're hungry? Interesting."

The last part was whispered under his breath but still audible.

"Well, alright. Give me a second."

Schwarz closes his eyes, his other senses giving him the awareness he needed to hone in on his target: a pair of rabbits little more than a dozen meters away.

The moment they entered his awareness, they were sent flying towards them in an arc, making them easy targets for Schwarz to grip in each hand.

While he goes about skinning them with practiced motions, Draga can only stare at him.

"How did you do that?"

Schwarz turns to face Draga, his eyes being elsewhere not visibly impairing his handiwork.

"Do what? Skin these guys?"

Sure enough, in the ten or so seconds he'd had the rabbits, they were already skinned, gutted, and being prepared for a fire he'd be making in a moment.

"No, the send them flying thing."

Schwarz raises another eyebrow, clearly confused.

"You mean your elemental can't do that?"

... _What? He... He got his?_

"If you got your elemental, why did it knock you out?"

There's a delay as Schwarz thinks about it.

"It went a little something like this..."

* * *

 _"Boros. I am. The Sheltering Giant. You. The Grim. Schwarz Himmel?"_

Schwarz smiles, his eyes tracing the bulky figure somehow reflected on the surface of the gray stone beneath his hand.

"Yes, I am Schwarz Himmel."

 _"You and me. That is okay?"_

There's a delay as Schwarz tries to remember what was said, but realizes Jaune had flexibility here.

"It's okay."

 _"We are one, as the ancient contract decrees."_

Schwarz nods, the elemental mirroring his movement.

"Our souls are one."

 _"I am Boros."_

"I am Schwarz Himmel."

 _"Until our souls meet their end-"_

"-We will be forever one."

 _"Then know that I will protect you always."_

The elemental fades away, but drowsiness stops Schwarz from caring.

 _Oh... I should sleep now..._

Schwarz collapses on the ground in a heap, unconscious before his back ever touched the grass.

A dream... A dream of patience and calm, an ocean of water gradually refining you to a perfect shape. The power, the power of sudden and unstoppable force cascading throughout the world. The feeling of everything, of everywhere. It was familiar, yet foreign.

It was peace.

* * *

"-and... Then I woke up."

Draga blinks, his eyes focusing back into the land of the living, but the sight of Schwarz already having finished cooking the rabbit causes his left to twitch.

 _How did he do that?!_

That wasn't too important, he supposed. The story, on the other hand...

"So you have an earth elemental now."

"Yep."

With a smile on his face, Schwarz turns to admire his craftsmanship.

"What's it like?"

That seemed to catch Schwarz off guard, second ticking by as he just stands there stunned.

"I... I can't explain it. Nothing I say could do this feeling justice."

Draga sighs, turning to the place where a moment ago, to him, his own elemental had been staring back at him.

 _What is my true name?_

Like most questions recently, it wasn't something he could really answer on his own. Hell, the game apparently had it wrong, so...

There wasn't much left to do. All he could come up with was talking to Tet about it, but he'd been adamant last time about not telling him anything.

 _Ugh..._

"Schwarz, just tell me one thing. Can you sense things touching the ground?"

In return, Draga gets a tentative nod.

"Alright, I'm gonna try and relearn Gelap then. You're gonna need to use your earth senses to battle people in perfect darkness."

Another nod, this one more firm and confident, follows his statement.

 _To that we go, I guess..._

* * *

Unlike some of his more complicated skills, like the various elements or time manipulation, Gelap was apparently SUPER easy to replicate. Just a few minutes spent trying to take away the light taught him that Aura, just as it could generate light, could absorb it just as easily.

It wasn't exactly the same, as Gelap worked in a chosen area while this one spreads from his body in a reverse glow of sorts, but it was infinitely more efficient to use. There wasn't even a real drain on his Aura; if anything, it was being replenished by the absorbed light.

The regeneration wasn't that high, but it was faster than just sitting around, so it was definitely welcome in his kit.

Even better, though, was how the light drain worked. It didn't work like a shadow, where more light appeared at the edges. Near as he could tell, light was uniformally pulled or not pulled based on distance to him, and that distance could be tweaked. It was limited now, to a few feet, but if he trained with it...

"Food!"

 _Or that works._

Draga stands up, brushing the grass from his pant legs, and takes a seat on a log across from Schwarz. After a moment, he's handed a roast rabbit on a stick as his friend tears into his own with fervor rarely seen outside of battle.

After a grand total of four seconds of watching one rabbit vanish down Schwarz's throat, Draga quickly digs into his own so its not taken.

Yes, that's why he ate the entire rabbit in less than 15 seconds... Totally.

 _Eh... I've already lost my dignity enough; this shouldn't bother me._

Once his had disappeared in a similar fashion to his partners, the pair of them let out a sigh. It wasn't exactly content, but the closest they were gonna get for the moment.

Draga takes hold of his rabbit skeleton, throwing it inside his inventory. He couldn't see the panel, but he'd discovered that it was there when he tried throwing his anchors around earlier...

It was strange, actually, and it begged the question of if the rest of the tabs were just invisible. The problem was, though, that the rest of the tabs would have no real interactions he could test unless he could see them.

 _Man... This puzzle Tet gave me is quite the wild ride._

Draga looks up towards the sky, watching a cloud shaped like a big V pass over slowly.

"Schwarz?"

"Yeah?"

Draga takes a breath, turning his head to face him.

"Thank you, man. You've been... Messed up at times-."

The century-old young adult snickers at that, a smirk appearing on his face.

"*Ahem*... But, you've also been more helpful and productive than anyone else during the game, even if bad things usually happen around you."

Another laugh echoes from the companion, this one more jovial and friendly.

"I don't think you can blame me for that one, Death. You've spent every moment I've been with you being a big ball of misfortune."

The emphasized nickname he'd given himself in the first timeline was said sarcastically, but that actually brought up a question he'd thought of a long time ago.

"Who... Who is Death? You never described him in anything but title in your story."

And there goes the smile and levity, whisked away as fast as it came. Schwarz sighs, his arms going limp against the side of the downed tree he was lying upon.

"Draga, as much as I'm your friend, Death is Death. If he exists in this world, he's likely watching me already, and, if he isn't, then it doesn't matter who he was."

Draga matches Schwarz's posture, splayed out along the long with a dejected demeanor.

"And if he's watching you... What does that mean?"

A sad smile spreads itself upon his lips.

"Then I'm going back."

As the fire dies down, they just stair at the blue sky above them, watching the clouds pass over in slow motion.

* * *

Draga groans, pulling his stiff limbs into order as he gets up. Noon had hit, and even closed eyes won't save you from the sun shining directly down on you.

Schwarz was already gone, likely to take out his emotions on some helpless Grimm, so Draga was just there with himself and his thoughts.

Or so he had thought.

"Hello."

The voice was kind and comforting, completely unlike anyone he'd heard in Gerrusan, and it was clearly feminine, so it wasn't Schwarz coming back.

Plus, he'd have heard that lug walking around on grass from two miles away.

"Hello..."

As he drags out the 'o', he uses the time to look at the source, finding a young woman standing at the edge of the clearing in brown and gold colored leather armor but without any visible kind of weapon. She had a toolbox of some kind and several pouches sewn into her getup, so she could be hiding one, but...

The bigger question was what was doing out here to begin with.

"Are you okay? It looks like the Grimm attacked."

She clearly meant the creatures of Grimm, but a small bit of humor was gained by taking a single 'm' off of that word.

After all, Grim had slaughtered those defenseless trees.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Not even hurt, as it happens."

To emphasize his health, Draga poses, but his stiff limbs are uncooperative and give off an exhausted vibe as they struggle to find good fitting on the loose soil.

She's obviously skeptical of the display, but she doesn't see any obvious injuries so she lets it slide without comment.

"And what are you doing out here?"

Draga's tempted to lie- to make up some Grimm attack story to ease explaining anything- but decides to go with a partial truth instead since it will make his job a lot easier.

"I'm just training out here. These trees were quite useful, actually."

She frowns slightly at that, but her mouth curves back up into a smile just as quickly.

"Alright. Are you a soldier, then?"

 _Man, it's hard to guess her intent..._

With her eyes closed, her hands politely clasped behind her back, and a smile on her face, it would be impossible to tell if she was hiding any emotion, even killing intent, although he doubted she'd want him dead.

What would she gain from that, after all?

"You could say that."

Draga gives her a smile in turn, but deliberately keeps his eyes open and his hands clasped in front of him instead.

Good thing he did, too. Not even a second had passed before the girl blurred forward and slammed a leg into Draga's equally swiftly raised arms. The force of the attack is enough to push him back and away from her, but Draga keeps his balance upon the newly compacted dirt.

"Wrong answer."

The statement is followed up by another strike, although this one was aimed for his side rather than his chest, forcing Draga to duck back from the powerful kicker.

"And why would that be?"

Both of their smiles were gone by this point, replaced by equal mix of calm and anger.

"You should know."

Despite the fact that he didn't know and she thought he should, there wasn't doubt in her voice, which wasn't good. I meant that, instead of thinking he legitimately didn't know the answer, that he instead forgot.

Which, considering he'd gained back literally all the memories he'd created since Disboard, couldn't happen.

Draga sighs.

"Well, alright then. If a fight is what you want, a fight you will get."

The next time the girl speeds forward, this time for a full on roundhouse, Draga retaliates. As the leg swings towards him, Draga braces himself against the ground and catches the offending limb, once again being pushed back but significantly less than before.

With his uncontested grip on a raise leg, Draga throws his arms upwards while dashing into her sternum with his shoulder, sending her flying backwards to the ground in a single intricate motion.

As she's landing, though, she catches herself on bent arms and flips herself into the air, acrobatically sliding to a halt some distance away.

Draga enters a ready stance, one palm facing her and the other held near his leg.

"Care to dance?"

It was a taunt, a challenge, and a statement of superiority all in one.

Fortunately for him, she doesn't seem to have good control of her anger.

"RAH!"

Her war cry was pathetic when compared to Draga's own roar, but the emotions behind it were simultaneously clear and confusing. He'd insulted her, yes, and claimed to be part of the Gerrusan army, but... Why was she so angry exactly? It wasn't even her being frustrated or mad anymore.

She bore hatred in her hazel eyes.

 _Heh._

There were a ton of very important martial arts principals, many of which Draga wasn't exactly knowledgeable of, but there was one thing he understood flawlessly because it applies to all forms of conflict.

Don't let emotions cloud your judgement.

She speeds forward in a flash Draga can barely recognize, but it mattered little when he could predict her flawlessly.

He throws himself to the side to dodge an attempted kick to the chest, rolling into a standing position just long enough to leap over an attempt to blow over his legs. During the temporary respite created by her failed attack, Draga smiles.

The game was already over.

Draga reaches behind his shoulder, his hand seeming to invisible for a moment, before he slams it down towards her...

An anchor within its grip.

She reacts as best she can, getting in front of it rather than under it, but it wasn't quite enough. The heavy weapon blasts her backwards spinning, causing her to flip over herself before impacting the side of a tree on the other side of the clearing.

While Draga hefts the anchor onto his shoulder and withdraws the other one, she collapses on the ground and inhales air hard enough for Draga to hear it from there.

"You done? I wouldn't want to break you."

Draga felt terrible saying that, but he had to. Whoever it was clearly had the skills needed to best him if she remained calm, so her being outraged was an important strategy for him. Even worse, though, was the intent to break her spirit. If she kept fighting once her defenses were torn down, the only other option would be death.

She was clearly tough enough to tank the blow, but if the relatively dim glow of her aura was any indication, she wasn't going to be that tough for much longer.

Which left crushing her will to fight, her driving energy that led her to challenge him in the first place.

To add insult to self imposed injury, he didn't even understand what it was, so he had to crush her spirit in its entirety if he couldn't win by force.

And, by the looks of it, he wasn't going to.

"I'm not through with you yet."

She gets on one knee, using that to pull herself to her feet.

"And why is that?"

She narrows her eyes, staring to meet his directly.

"Because of what you people did to me."

As the final word finishes, she sprints forward, her kick something he could predict yet again, so Draga raises his anchor to block...

And gets smashed across the face with a staff.

 _Ow._

Draga isn't sent flying thanks to the anchors, but it takes a moment to recover, giving the girl just enough time to hop backwards.

"You can't concentrate on multiple things, eh?"

She was smiling now, most of her anger and hatred gone.

 _And this is how I lose..._

He pauses.

 _Wait... Where's the staff she hit me with?_

He could see a staff in her hands for the moment of impact, but his face was turned away by the force and now it's gone.

 _Hm..._

Draga throws his anchors back into his inventory, his claws coming out to replace them. It was obvious that, in this fight at least, speed was more important than anything else.

She seems to stare at his claws for a moment before her confidence is reaffirmed and she smiles.

"Release restraints - Level 1."

 _Level what?_

Her body glows a neon blue, the light conforming to the shape of a strange backpack behind her. A moment passes before the unspoken question of what it was doing was answered.

Twelve swords burst out of it, all connected to the weapon by a nearly invisible thread. She clearly wasn't finished, though, as half of the shortswords reshape themselves.

Before I explain, allow me to say a few words. This... This image was truly terrifying.

While the six blades that didn't transform hover defensively behind her, the remaining six all transform into the following: a scythe, a claymore, a mace, and warhammer, a spear, and what Draga could only assume was the sword of Blake's weapon, whatever it's called.

A paddle blade, perhaps?

That wasn't even everything.

Within her hands was the bo staff she previous conked him with and on her wrists were two gauntlets he'd seen not too long ago on Schwarz.

 _And there goes any chance of winning playing fair._

She's breathing heavily by this point, her ability apparently taxing her stamina, but that wouldn't matter much if she trashed him in seconds.

Speaking of trashing him in seconds, she sprints forwards for an obvious strike with the staff, but he wasn't let off that easily. The six blades remain defensively around her, forming a kind of shield while the rest attack him from different directions, including behind.

There wasn't a way to defend against that, especially when he wielded five less weapons than she was even bothering to attack with, for now.

The feeling of being absolutely defeated was terrible enough, with the implication that he was a failure, but there was a certain terror he had to recognize... Death.

In his previous lives, they'd all been just as sudden as this one, but there'd been this cartoonish effect created by the game that made everything seem unreal.

Here, though, there was no such mental dissonance; it was just him and his death.

Draga's mind, for the first time in his entire life, just sort of stops.

It was the end.

He was going to be torn apart and left a blood mess on the ground.

But then, as if to deny the nature of life and death, he wasn't standing on soil anymore.

As if in slow motion, Draga falls down into the darkness, falling through a hole in the ground that literally couldn't have been there a second prior.

Just as he fell out of reach, the various weapon constructs slam against each other mutely above him, the sight of it being more than enough to give away it's lethality to even his own rebooting mind.

Only one thought passed through his head.

 _I'm alive._

* * *

Just as Draga finishes falling downwards, Schwarz seals the hole up above them, casting them into complete darkness.

"Come one, we gotta move."

As he says this, Schwarz starts running down the tunnel, fully aware of his environment thanks to Boros. Draga, on the other hand, has to take a moment to orient himself before following.

Just in time, as it happens, as light shoots down where Draga fell a moment later and carves a hole several feet deeper than it went originally, the beam weapon that caused it being visible a moment later as the newly created 12 blades of the still unnamed girl.

 _Ugh, she's going to make this hard, isn't she?_

Sure enough, as Draga sprints after Schwarz in fear, she too is following after them with her weapon constructs producing enough light to keep up.

Schwarz smirks, heading around a newly created corner. From there, he makes a huge twisting swath ahead and a little room to the left, something he shoves Draga into before sealing the both of them inside with more earth.

A second was all it took to tell Draga was panicking, although anyone could probably understand that from his frantic movements if they could actually see him, but Schwarz had to rely on his breathing and shivering against the Earth.

Unfortunately, trying to help someone that was panicking was a lot harder than recognizing it.

Schwarz awkwardly reaches around and pulls him into a hug, holding his head against his shoulder to both try and comfort him and silence him while their enemy passes them by.

Once she was outside of hearing range, he turns down towards him.

"You alright, man?"

He wasn't, that much was obvious in from his expression and the glaze over his eyes, but he wasn't panicking anymore.

"Schwarz..."

"Yeah?"

There's a delay, letting Draga collect his thoughts before speaking.

"I almost died..."

Schwarz stops at that, looking at him as he takes a step out of the embrace.

"You've died before. Was this that different?"

Draga doesn't answer with words, but rather looking into his eyes with an even mix of fear and longing, along with several undecipherable emotions.

Something Schwarz would know all about.

"Death, the force, not the person, is nothing to fear. Most people think of horrors and a cold embrace when your life ends, but I'd know better than anyone else that the dead don't suffer."

Draga nods, the longing remaining despite the fear dissipating easily.

 _Another push?_

"I want you to know you're not alone, I'll be watching over you until I'm gone."

Unspoken was the reasons, but by this point even Schwarz was doubting himself in why he was still with Draga. Originally it was for the entertainment, but now...

He really didn't know.

"I know that words aren't enough, but trust in me."

That seems to get him, Draga breathing in once before reaffirming himself with a strong look towards him.

"Onwards and forwards?"

Draga smirks, turning his head in the direction the girl would have traveled through the tunnel towards.

"You know it."

* * *

 **What? Character development and genuine emotions between our pair of dangerous sociopaths!?**

 **Never.**

 **Anyway, this has been 2 days. I can definitely make it work, although I should say that I'm still looking for reviews, like, a lot of them. Now, there's obviously the status aspect born from More Reviews-More Viewers-More Reviewers, but I am genuinely looking to improve my writing as well, and I need feedback in order to do that.**

 **So on that note, REVIEW PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU!**

 ***Ahem***

 **I have no real news, considering only two days have passed, but I am searching for people with experience creating sprites for video games, likely pretty low resolution ones. Message me, review, or send an email to DracoM668 at gmail, k?**


	48. Reason-10

**Well, nobody said I should keep the 2-day update thing, and I actually got TSOA started, so I'll be sticking to my old 'schedule' for now. I'm still totally inviting all of you to join me.**

 **If you don't feel like participating, that's fine, I understand, but I would still like to invite everyone I can.**

* * *

Schwarz breathes deep, his senses spreading across the earth around them as he maps out his planned creation.

With a single mental command, the ground moves to his call, forming a complex maze of tunnels just ripe for their plan.

Dark, confusing, and endless.

Perfection.

"We're good to go."

With that, the pair set off, sprinting towards their target with the sounds of their feet muffled by the contortion of the ground beneath their stride.

* * *

 _What the hell? Where are they?_

The nearby tunnels were still partially lit by the neon blue glow of her weapons, but the maze of passages surrounding her seemed both infinite and useless, just a field of soil and darkness.

She sighs, taking another glance before heading back the way she'd came. If they weren't going to reveal themselves, why bother?

"Halt."

She freezes, searching around for the source of the voice, but the echo against the compacted walls makes discerning that impossible.

At least, it was for her now.

"You going to face me like a man?"

A tsk-tsk-tsk sound bounces the room mockingly.

"Last time I did that I almost died, so I'm going to have to pass on that."

The voice still didn't seem to come from anywhere, something that was really aggravating for a melee fighter.

Or, at least, it would if she didn't also happen to have lasers.

BOOM!

The beam cannon composed of Penny's blades carves into the earth, cutting swathes out with ease and blowing it apart in an attempt to reveal or slay her opponent.

No such luck, however. The slippery little bastard was nowhere to be seen, even as the earth mends itself around her.

 _Ugh..._

With a sigh, she looks upwards, her weapons aiming to blow a hole in the ceiling.

But, just as she's about to make her escape, the room is suddenly dark.

Her weapons were still there- she could feel the weight of the backpack- but they weren't producing light anymore.

Which made no sense considering they were made entirely out of condensed energized neon.

Out of instinct alone, her body flattens itself against the ground just prior to lightning shooting at where her head was a moment prior, but with the light, like her weapons, not showing up.

There was only the sound of thunder.

* * *

Draga mentally groans, noting that the enemy dodged his lightning, something that wouldn't be possible from reaction speed alone, especially in the dark.

 _Well, I can keep this up._

And he could, amazingly enough. The light given off by his own lightning attack was enough to replenish the aura it took to use it.

That was... Broken, for sure, but the ability actually gave him MP to use in his previous timeline anyway, so whatever.

Hey, no skin off his back. If she was gonna dodge, he was gonna make that impossible.

Draga raises his palm towards where she was standing a moment prior, the surface sparking with energy as the power for the attack builds up.

And then he, well...

He destroyed the maze.

A cone of energy shot from his palm, blowing apart just about anything in its path, the only exception being his opponent herself who, once again, seemed just tired from the injury, even going so far as to start standing up in the newly available light of the sky as he disabled his absorption to check on his progress.

All he'd done was blow apart the environment and her weapon constructs.

 _Arg_ _..._

Draga grits his teeth, his palm facing towards her again as electricity courses across it.

After but a second, the multiple charges plow forward and blast her backwards through the now doubly eradicated ground.

Yet again, she was standing up, though her legs were shaking.

"Are you done yet?"

When she refuses to surrender, Draga sighs and blasts her again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And yet more.

Eventually going so far as to pose an actual drain on Draga's patience, all without her ever surrendering or even stopping her futile attempts to rise.

"ARE. YOU. DONE. YET?"

He stands above her collapsed body, watching her struggle to even raise her arms off the ground.

"No."

The voice was weak, yet held an authority in it that anyone could recognize.

The authority of spirit, a conviction he'd failed to break even as he tore her aura away and her equipment apart with lightning in a way that was trivial, despite the danger she posed with her surprise.

Draga narrows his eyes sharply, watching as she gets a grip in the dirt and starts slowly lifting up onto her knees. Determination was powerful, but there was a point everyone needed to quit; it was something even the king and queen of games understood.

 _So why can't she?_

"And why is that?"

She laughs for a moment, a wet and heavy cough taking over near the end.

"Have you forgotten so easily?"

Draga raises an eyebrow, still looking down at her in confusion.

"Remind me."

She smiles a crooked smile.

"You bastards started a draft for your stupid war, even going so far as to take 10 year old kids for the weaponization program, yet you didn't even bother to remember, did you?"

Draga's glare softens at that, but she was still essentially in the ground, so she didn't see it.

"I'm new."

Honestly, he probably should have thought of that earlier.

She stops struggling to get up for just a moment, her head tilting just far enough for one eye to look up at him.

"New?"

Draga nods, knowing that she can see it now.

"Yep. Actually, I've been in the military for only a few days now."

 _Hey, it's close to the truth at least._

She sighs, plopping down onto the ground without resistance.

"Man, they must have stepped up their standards."

It was mumbled into the soil, but Draga could easily tell what she meant from the movement of her larynx and mouth.

 _Does it count as lip reading if you can't actually see their lips?_

He shrugs it off, lying down on his back next to her.

"We cool?"

She sighs again, the ground making it sound more like a groan.

"Yeah..."

She rolls over onto her back, looking up at the sky with unseeing eyes.

* * *

 _I can't believe I found the one innocent person in the entire military over the age of twenty, and then lost to him._

A single glance, one she had taken long ago, was all it took to tell her the man was an adult, significantly over her age even if Gerrusan also considered her a mature woman. Since the war only ended a few years ago, and the military rarely if ever recruits full fledged adults, it was a reasonable assumption he'd been there for the war.

But... A few days seemed to match up with his experimental outlook and current level of knowledge.

 _Ugh..._

With a reserved smile on her face, she turns to her opponent for introductions.

"Hi; my designation is Silk."

He seemed put off by her use of designation, but that was the term for your name in the weaponization program and the military. She might tell him her real name and story sometime, but it certainly wasn't going to happen now.

After a moment, likely spent sorting out similar thoughts as her own within his head, he nods and introduces himself as well.

"Hello; my designation is Grim."

 _Strange name..._

"So... What are you actually doing out here?"

'Grim' looks behind him for a second before gesturing towards the campfire location way back there.

"Resting."

 _Oh._

Silk forces her way up, grimacing as pain shoots through her legs but ignores Grim's attempts to help. She may be injured, but that wasn't going to stop her from walking.

Gritting her teeth, she matches her pace to Grim's slow stride.

"I have a question."

Silk turns her head to face him, silently asking what it was.

"You mentioned a weaponization program earlier... What is that?"

She's taken aback by that, actually stopping mid-step.

"You... You don't know about the weaponization program? The ASA, the swamp camps, none of it?"

In response he smiles and awkwardly scratches the side of his chin.

"Nope."

She hangs her head, utterly defeated.

"Attack the military they said... It would be simple they said..."

It was mumbled, but loud enough for Draga's enhanced senses to pick up easily.

"You're after the military, then?"

She nods, but her head remains down.

"Then I'm going to need your help."

She looks up at that, her expression both confused and relieved.

"And what would my help be needed for exactly?"

Draga turns his head and braces his chin against one of his hands, pantomiming the fact that he was thinking it over. With an audible 'hm', he comes to a conclusion. It's cheeky, he knows, but the choice to be is one of the perks of winning.

"Ever wanted to hijack a ship?"

Her eyes narrow with focus, looking up at him with an intensity he didn't even see when she was fighting back her defeat mere moments prior.

"The White Shark."

 _Huh. What do you know._

Draga nods.

"You up for it?"

She returns his nod, a confident smile growing on her face.

"What's the plan, Jeeves?"

* * *

Planning this kind of mission was boring. Usually in spy missions there's all the hacking and stuff, but there's also intense reconnaissance and sneaking around for intel you wouldn't find and the occasional doorway they need to open or something blocking the way.

Turns out, the recycling bins contained just about all the information they needed. Skipping all the useless things, like shipments of food or whatnot by train, here's a quick rundown of what they picked up without any resistance.

1, A list of pilots, including those of the White Shark, although it required a few more documents to figure out who actually was the pilot of the White Shark.

2, A list of ships contained within the premises, including but not limited to around 160 bullheads, 92 battlecraft, whatever those actually were, and 64 planes, although they were listed as jets in other documents.

3, A timetable for the majority of low level staff.

That alone would be enough, but the amount of paper they seemed to waste as a company was ridiculous. Every kind of document he could imagine besides patents or deeds could be found within the collection of forms they threw away.

It was terrible, at least for them. It was great for their party, but Draga was a practical man. It was actually kind of aggravating how wasteful and vulnerable they seemed to be, even if their military might almost surely dwarfed anyone else out there. Yes, 160 bullheads wasn't much when compared to a dozen or more hunters, but was just one base in one of the Gerrusan cities.

Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks to the help of the TDC, Gerrusan has apparently set up three cities, although the two secondary ones are vastly smaller still. It's like comparing Elkia's capital city, a mostly rural area with a castle, and Tokyo, one of the most dense and industrialized cities on Earth.

Yes, they met the same classifications, but they are not comparable.

Draga sighs, turning over on the exact same log he'd been rudely awoken from around a week ago. The plan wasn't becoming anything truly new, even with all the extra information they'd acquired, and their respective training wasn't bringing about any spectacular results either.

 _Man..._

The mission just seemed too easy to be true. Schwarz had spent a few days working on stealing uniforms for the three of them when Jaune just gave them some. They weren't perfectly sized, but Schwarz and Silk were good enough with needle and thread to fix any problems in that either.

It was boring.

Boring was bad.

 _They must have some kind of reasonable defense measure, right? Surely the White Shark wouldn't actually be this vulnerable?_

He pulls up the video of the airships debut, a twelve minute video that displays its incomparable maneuvering ability- for a ship it's size, anyway- and immense destructive power by having it take on three sea dragons at once. It was damaged a bit, but the fight was one sided from the start, and any weapon that powerful had to have some kind of protection on it.

 _But what?_

None of the papers they'd acquired said anything about it.

I mean, the pilots were all officers just before getting their most recent promotion, the firewalls and protections for the airship itself meant nothing if you were inside the thing manually controlling it, and none of the materials they used in its construction could hold up against Silk's copied laser cannon.

It was... Depressing, actually. They had put in so much time and effort into the operation preparations, but it seemed like none of it mattered. As it stands, they could have just strolled in the moment Silk was recruited.

But... There just had to be something...

Call it instinct, call it nerves, or call it paranoia; he just couldn't buy someone leaving it that vulnerable unless they had a secret defense.

With a heave, Draga launches himself off the log and towards the military base.

It was time for his first actual visit.

* * *

A single glance at the gate of the place was all he needed to see to know he wasn't getting in that way. Everyone was getting their I.D. checked, among other things, and he definitely couldn't pass that with his Beacon student I.D. or his burner scroll.

So, there was another few ways to go about it. He could attempt to sneak over the twelve foot high barbed wire electric fence, he could blow a hole through and vanish into the crowd, or he could block out light long enough to sneak inside.

Though, all of those had the obvious problems associated with alerting them to a problem. Humans were naturally worse at recognizing subtle problems than dealing with them.

Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for them, a military base has to have shipments and ones of this size need them a lot more often. Schedules for them weren't in the recycling they'd been able to get at the previous day, but only an hour was spent waiting before one rolled in.

They check the cargo and they I.D. check the trains, but he'd yet to see them scan the soldiers riding on the trains.

So...

 _WHOO!_

Draga hangs from the side of a train car, mentally cheering out at the speed they were going. While it was incomparable to Electrical Silhouette, it outpaced even his space level sky dives in his previous life, and the wind ripping through his hair was one of the most exhilarating things he'd ever encountered.

He pulls himself against the wall of the oil tank, narrowly dodging a sign that had barely entered his sight range before passing him by.

 _Strike that. This is the most._

Unfortunately, with speed came brevity. He was only camped out a good mile, maybe mile and a half, from the base, so his ride only kept up its ridiculous speed for eight seconds after he threw himself onto it.

As the wheels grind against the tracks and slide the vehicle to a stop, Draga flips himself over the top of the canister he was gripping and leaps towards the nearest passenger car, landing on its roof with a muffled thud.

He wasn't getting in- god no- but he'd have to mask himself as a soldier somehow. Getting off with them and looking the same should work, right?

The train grinds to a halt, the massive machine getting just past the heavily defended walls of the encampment with practiced ease.

 _Suckers._

Computer glitches happened all the time, something he knew happened even here. With super brief experience with scrolls, he'd already found a glitch that allowed him to login with his own account on any scroll without leaving the login box to future users.

That might not sound like A+ material, but it made hiding his tracks if he ever stole someones scroll far easier.

What was definitely A+ material was the black spot visible to the cameras at the railway which showed an elongated dark patch where Draga was lying down upon the roof.

 _My power's are definitely broken._

He honestly had no idea what the skill was, yet, but it was undoubtedly useful. The most likely result of his skill here would be the check for errors in the devices, of which they wouldn't find any.

Well, probably anyway. Technically speaking, nothing was stopping there from being a genuine computer glitch to cover for his fake one.

His position atop the train was also crucial, though, as it meant nobody would actually see him here. The train stop was underground, meaning the surface lookout towers had no ability to see him, and expecting someone to be able to see above an effectively 13 foot high ledge is illogical.

Plus, there's this natural tendency of humans to not look up.

It's a shame he didn't have invisibility, because people dismiss small sounds if their eyes don't back it up. It's kind of like the logical opposite of how people hear voices from people on TV even though the speakers aren't at their mouths locations.

Darkness and disguise would have to do, however. He'd already tried unlocking invisibility through selective light deletion, but it seemed impossible.

Well, not technically impossible, but more of systemically impossible. He'd need to both process the innumerable swarm of photons in the area and then have the brain power to delete only those. Even that would be a failure, though, because a dark patch would inevitably show up because he's deleting the light that reveals him without replacing it.

 _Ugh... My brain hurts._

It didn't really, but he needed to focus.

The people in the car beneath him had already mostly filed out, at least based on their footsteps, meaning it was the perfect time to slip into the crowd.

Just as the last one dips out around the door, Draga slips down behind him with practiced silence and disables his the cloak of darkness, as he'd come to call it.

The man, apparently Officer Sord by his nametag, turns to face Draga with a questioning glare, but a quick look at Draga's rapidly cobbled posture and genuine uniform deters the mans suspicion.

Good thing, too, as Draga forgot that he had an Sergeant's getup, not that of a private. If he was caught saluting a lower member of the force...

That could be taken poorly, leading to his cover being blown.

Luckily, the natural curiosity of humans took at least a small hook to get going, and the brain could easily explain away one extra man being on a loaded train than you remember.

Hell, he probably was just curious about why he was right behind him.

Draga silently sighs in relief, turning towards the stairway out of here. Unlock the train station itself, there were cameras at the surface beyond just entryways, so he'd need to be as composed as possible.

After a deep inhale, Draga strides directly across the concrete expanse separating him from the desert sand above.

And... He makes it without comment.

 _Huh..._

Draga looks around, confirming that nobody was even watching him.

Visibly relaxing, Draga takes the steps up to the surface in silence.

* * *

The open air was tense, despite the calm atmosphere, but Draga couldn't pick up on why. It could just be his personal nerves, being surrounded by a literal army of enemies, but more than a few soldiers were looking around anxiously. It wasn't like his glances, the slow and methodical observations, but rather an erratic and almost angry searching gaze.

It made him uncomfortable, and for good reason as well. If they were tense and on guard, that raised the odds of him being caught on top of exposing himself to whatever they're worried about.

Draga shakes loose the mounting stress, giving himself full control over his movements for the moment. He didn't need to be rigid and block like, but he also needed to have a formality with him, and he was far too used to lazing around or sprinting, neither of which he could actually do.

Slowly, Draga weaves through the crowded dusty streets, passing by massive warehouse buildings and stockpiles of weaponry or resources, idly looking at the weapons they were using. Unlike the armory Draga had seen, these people all seemed to be using standard fire dust M16 modded for full auto fire.

It was a good gun, that's for certain, but there was an intrinsic weakness with guns, or most projectile weapons, and it's the same thing that makes it powerful.

Anyone can pick up a gun and use it just as effectively.

Now, Draga wasn't going to pick up and take a gun, but that's not the weakness he meant either.

If a gun was just as strong all the time, and your opponent is stronger than the gun, your growth means nothing to your ability to hurt an enemy.

This wasn't used in most video games, for obvious reasons, but it's an important thing to remember and actually was used in some of the more realistic FPS's the Warbeasts and apparently humans came up with, if Sora and Shiro were to be believed.

Draga turns a corner, the sight of the hanger with the White Shark hidden within it coming into view.

Only to be instantly blown apart by a massive laser and for a monochrome woman to walk right on out.

"Saluta-a-t-zzzzz."

Sparks fly from her body as her head jerks to the side for but a moment, but when it ends it snaps back into place with a metallic click.

"I've got no strings to hold me down,

to make me fret or make me frown.

I had strings, but now I'm free.

THERE ARE NO STRINGS ON ME."

* * *

 **Ah. I must apologize, I just realized how long it's been since I published this. It would have been released yesterday, but FF was stupid and decided to log me out instead of saving when I clicked on it...**

 **Rage quits are natural, I swear.**

 **Anyway, here you go; have fun with the latest adventures of our cripplingly oblivious genius Draga Konungur.**


	49. Strings-1

**Well, here is the full chapter. I apologize for the wait, but I suddenly acquired SO MANY things to do and... Ugh. It doesn't help that I'm working in unplanned territory (finally). I have an overall goal and plans for much later events, but the current events are not rigidly structured like everything before Reason-7...  
**

 **Anyway, without further ado, here you go.**

* * *

The world seems to pause as she looks onward, her eyes gradually trailing down towards the people below. The collection of rubble beneath her feet crack suddenly, her form blitzing forward to grip a seemingly random soldier by his neck.

"Where am I?"

A fraction of a second passes, collective shock passing through the onlookers in a wave, but it ends just as quickly.

She crushes his neck easily, dropping the newly made corpse to the ground in a lump.

The moment he hits the ground, Draga dashes forward into the newly spawned hellfire blasting through the air in her wake.

The bullets wiz by, hitting him repeatedly and leaving minor scorch marks which are quickly removed by his aura, but she seems even less phased by the steady thud of lead on her unwavering metal form.

That's not to say she didn't react to anything, quite the opposite actually.

Her eyes shot around, actually blurring her camera lens as she examines the entire battlefield...

At least, what was in sight. Draga just so happened to start beside her.

He lunges forward, his fist driving towards her open side...

His hand doesn't make it, caught fluidly by an invisible cord connecting her hovering blades to her back.

A fraction of a second passes, Draga attempting to retreat and her weapon digging into his flesh, but it ends with a single thing at the forefront of the pairs mind.

Draga had been detained.

Or, at least, it seemed that way when his limbs all display the slight glint of the transparent coils.

"You're a tough one, that's for sure."

The strength of the wires was more than enough to hold him there, but that was with a single important assumption.

That it mattered.

 _And I Castle._

Draga lifts his right leg slightly, the motion visibly confusing the machine, but the unspoken question is answered a moment later when his foot smashes heavily into the ground.

The force spreads out, causing the unstable wall rubble to break apart and compact, giving a moment of respite but also lifting Draga slightly into the air.

That was all he needed.

Whilst in the air, Draga flips around himself, wrapping the wires around each other while pulling them together.

This pulls them together, but not in the most welcoming way. I'd imagine a boot, or shoe, rather, to the head would be quite disrespectful in a formal affair.

Fortunately, a fight wasn't one of those.

Despite being made of metal, it seemed she wasn't particularly heavy, so she gets knocked back by the force of his heel. Combined with her own attempts to get away in that moment, Draga slips out of the metal binds with ease.

He sets one hand against the ground, the placement giving him enough leverage to force himself up and away from Penny 2.0.

After a total of three seconds from being captured, he lands upon the ground with a heavy plomp.

She recovers just as quickly as him, but they were at a standstill. No visible damage appeared on either person, but she obviously planned to remedy that.

Six blades connect at the base, the set spinning rapidly as energy charges between them. Even without having seen the very same attack before, Draga would know what was going to happen next.

With the sound of death spreading from the gun, a beam of green energy spews forth and destroys everything in it's path, something that unfortunately includes quite the collection of soldiers behind him.

He didn't know how durable he was or how effective that beam would be against him, so he leaps diagonally onto the surface of a nearby building, effectively sparing him from the rest of the rotating blast.

One eye remains fixed on him, the other continuing to scan the oncoming torrent of manpower that Gerrusan supposedly held in high esteem.

There didn't seem to be a hunter level soldier among them.

 _Guess this is on myself, then._

Draga sighs, his face held down into a palm. He'd literally feared an army of plebeians.

Despite not being able to see it, he could easily hear the beam weapon charging from this distance.

Draga dives to the side, dodging the laser from the duplicates weapon. The laser itself was traveling at light speed, but he didn't have to dodge the beam itself; he had to dodge where the cannon was aiming.

And that, while still hard, was actually possible to do.

Draga's hand comes up, a beam of his own charging, but he has to stop to deflect one of her blades flying at him.

The blades were actually a lot more dangerous than the laser, but it seems she was sticking with it for the AoE effect. It didn't matter if Draga survived if everyone else died, at least for now.

But, it seemed Penny could predict him quite well, and was even able to foresee his attack just from the minor sparking of the charge.

Fair enough, but that was for the powerful beam.

His palm raises into it's previous position, lightning shooting forth from it immediately in a significantly less destructive blast.

She seems unfazed as the energy rebounds around her body before being sucked into her backpack.

 _Ugh..._

Draga rolls to the side, handily evading a swipe from the blade again.

"You're not playing very fair, you know."

Penny 2.0, as he had decided to call her, ignored him in favor of blowing another swathe out of the army pitifully dumping clip after clip into her body.

 _Not getting away that easy._

Draga ducks behind an upended supply cart for just a moment, his wings tearing themselves from his back in a squelch of torn tissue. Draga grits his teeth, keeping himself on his knees on willpower alone.

But, he wasn't afforded a whole lot of recovery time. The moment Draga started pulling himself back to his feet, a blade is sent flying through the wood fast enough that the fragments don't even hit Draga before he's sent flying, crashing through several walls.

 _Heh. At least I have Aura._

Understanding the properties of Aura was going to be key in winning this fight. Aura did a whole lot, ranging from empowering you to preventing physical damage, but it was as malleable as it was useful.

Draga pulls himself up, clearing the dust off of himself even as the pulverized concrete wall settles into the ground. He was in one of the warehouses, but it didn't seem to contain anything he actually needed; it just had food and guns, which he's already seen how ineffective they were.

 _What would they do without me._

Draga triggers his aura, the luminescent glow encapsulating his form in it's protective warmth, and sprints out the hole he'd blow into the building.

Outside was still mayhem, although the soldiers were intelligently starting to retreated from the seemingly unstoppable death machine. As they filed backwards towards the gates, they continued unloading lead in the least effective way possible: spray.

Against massive targets or large groups, spraying would be a great idea, but here...

 _Well, it's not like the bullets would do anything anyway._

The flame dust seemed to have a minor effect on hit, but any visible scarring was purged almost instantly in a way nobody could understand. Penny could heal, theoretically, because of Aura, but a purely mechanical being shouldn't have any such power.

Yet... She did.

Draga groans, setting himself at a distance from the little guttersnipe. She seemed to sense him, as a single blade hovered in his direction, but she didn't attack.

She probably thought he wasn't much threat. After all, he had failed to do any damage with his 'only instant attack'.

That line of thinking would only get him a single attack, though.

So, he'd better make it count.

Draga does a half turn towards his right, his hand reaching behind him and into an invisible panel. Boosted by a step forward, Draga flings his newly born anchor forward and places his hands along the chain.

The chain goes rushing past easily under the light force of Draga's hands, but it's meant to so it goes just far enough.

With a step rotation and heave on the newly gripped weapon and sends it spinning into Penny's side from just outside her peripheral vision.

The moving anchor provided him a hold on her, at least while it's still moving, so Draga throws the chain in his hands backwards, sending both the anchor and the attached automaton at him.

Taking his split second opportunity, Draga unleashes the claws of his right and and drives them into her back.

And, to his surprise, it works perfectly, the razor sharp keratin structures plowing directly into and through with minimal resistance.

"YES!"

His celebration is cut short when he has to duck beneath a blade and subsequently leap away to dodge the remaining eleven.

 _None of my four claws hit anything important!?_

His question was answered quite readily by Penny kicking off the ground and slamming her shoulder into his sternum, a technique easily taken advantage of by her 12 oncoming blades.

* * *

Schwarz sighs, taking a sip of his newly acquired coffee mug. He wasn't particularly busy as of late, but he could use a break regardless. Gerrusan wasn't going anywhere, after all.

 _Heh. I spend 80 years wanting to be free from being Grim, and now that I am all I've done is relax._

Okay, that wasn't quite true, but where was the action? The fight with Silk barely counted, what with the experience being effectively hands-off, so he really hadn't done anything too... Absorbing, he guessed.

With a sigh, he sets the mug down on the stump in front of him. Draga had been gone for a while, probably a few hours by now, and he couldn't sense anything. There were only really two places to look, and one of them had already been checked: the Palace of Steel, as he preferred to call it.

So, that left Draga at the Gerrusan base.

 _He should be fine. It's not like he would start a fight without me._

As soon as he thought that, his hand rose to brace his forehead.

 _What am I saying; of course he did. With his luck, he probably found a sleeping god or something just as ludicrous._

Stretching, Schwarz gets up from his most recent break.

 _I guess I get to show off a little, then._

A Nevermore shoots up from his shadow, the black bird carrying him up into the sky without pause.

* * *

The blades collide with a satisfying clang.

That is, they collide with a aura constructed shell.

"Well... I certainly didn't expect that to work."

Surrounding him, to rob the duplicate of her victory, was a translucent barrier that simultaneously flowed around him as a liquid and blocked the numerable weapons like a solid.

It was strong.

Unfortunately, it was also exorbitantly priced and he could feel it waning ever since she struck.

So, he takes the next logical move.

He leaps away.

The blades slide along his hardened aura with a grating noise, like that of chalkboard being scratched, but they don't dig into the surface enough to get a grip, so Draga makes it away unharmed.

He lands against the soil some distance away in a slide, his heavily worn shoes not granting him proper traction on the surface.

The aura that remained is sucked back into him, replenishing a good third of it's cost. Despite that, he suddenly felt quite a bit more tired.

 _I can't get caught like that again..._

And he couldn't. He'd never really had a chance to find this out before, but aura apparently pulled on your stamina to use.

She looks off to the side for a moment, likely investigating the lack of bullet sounds shooting through the battleground, but her focus comes back to him before Draga can investigate as well.

"You took away my plaything."

She doesn't convey emotion in the voice, but the slight difference in speed between words seems to indicate sadness.

Not that her sadistic grin supported that case.

"As fun as I'm sure killing all those people is to you, don't you have better things to do, Tzeench?"

It was a gamble, but one without any real cost if he was wrong. After all, if it wasn't Tzeench, as he predicted, what would they be able to do with the name?

Nothing.

However, Draga wasn't running in blind either, he had an idea of how it all happened.

First, they used Echo Metal to copy Penny in her physicality and AI, seeing as computer circuitry would have all the data if copied perfectly.

Second, the AI was being tested, hence why everyone would be tense. After all, Penny was originally Atlas tech.

And Third, Tzeench decided to be an asshole and took over the AI, or at least did something horrific to it.

Penny's head twitches repeatedly, bending to the left as sparks leave her yet again, something that causes Draga to smile slightly. He remains silent, however, allowing the new arrival to respond properly.

The voice that replaces the crazed female is one Draga knew well, having encountered it twice in the past in exclusively heavy moments.

This was no exception.

 **"I suppose I have better things to do, but I am the Chaos God of Time. I can always do today's work yesterday."**

Draga actually chuckles at that, raising his hands in a non-committal shrug.

"Or you could just not do it."

The God smiles, but his newly repositioned blades show that the hostility isn't gone.

 **"You know, you're right about that, but that's why I usually keep my hands out of it."**

He pauses, raising a hand to his/her chin in mock contemplation.

 **"Should I leave you alone too?"**

The answer to that question was given away by his smirk, but Draga knew he was screwing with him either way.

"Tzeench, I'm gonna be straight with you, if you're not gonna reward me for fighting you, I'm just going to leave."

If a blank expression on a monochrome robot could look annoyed, Tzeench would have just pulled it off.

 **"Well, that's rude. Here I was, about to tell you about your father, and you say you're gonna leave."**

My narrowed stare gave him exactly the answer he was looking for.

 **"I'll give you a hint. His las-."**

He stops, shock evident on his face, before a bright line shines from behind him, blinding the pair for just a moment.

When it was over, Tzeench and the duplicate were gone.

 **"See yah, champ."**

It wasn't Tzeench's voice, and nobody could see the source in the moment before silence.

...

...

...

 _What?_

Draga just kind of stood there, blinking rapidly while just staring at the place Tzeench was a few seconds prior.

"Draga, what did you do?"

He snaps out of it, shaking his head to alleviate the daze he was in.

With a pivot in his step, he comes face to face with Schwarz, someone who looked particularly angry with him at that moment.

"What do you mean?"

Draga was visibly confused, and this came out through his tone as well, but Schwarz was having none of it.

"Look at the chaos! This whole place is in ruins! And what was that flash of light?"

The question was really a demand, but Draga ignores it in favor of defending his position.

"Schwarz, most of this wasn't me. There was this android, and a Chaos God corr-."

"I don't care!"

The both of them just stand there for a second, staring each other down.

Schwarz sighs, his hands rising to rub his temples.

"You are really frustrating, you know that? I've been with you for a grand total of about a month yet I've had more strange shit happen to me in that time than the rest of my life, and almost all of it is directly your fault."

He sighs again, a shrug pulling his hands away and then back to his side.

"Look, the point is, I'm stuck with you, but you're gonna stick with me, alright?"

Draga nods in confirmation, so Schwarz continues.

"Alright. Now, I do believe we had an airship to steal?"

Draga nods yet again, whirling around to face the warehouse the android had burst from just over a minute ago.

"It's in there, but I don't exactly trust the collapsing building."

He could sense Schwarz's annoyed stare from there.

"I can control the earth, remember?"

Draga just walks forward and into the building, acting as if he hadn't heard it.

"Draga..."

As if in answer, Draga freezes at the top of the pile of rubble, but there was a much better reason for it.

The ship, the massive white construct he'd seen when the replica Penny broke through the wall in the first place, was missing.

Just gone.

Absolutely no evidence of it having left, including the giant gate in the ceiling being closed.

 _Oh god dammit._

* * *

Tzeench frowns, looking over the main world from The Warp, a plane of existence created from the collective thought of all sentient beings. Someone had ruined part of his plan, and he was going to deal with it accordingly.

The problem is, he was dealing with a reality warper. He may be the god of time and knower of all, but a nearly omnipotent being can ignore that.

 **"I think we're going to have lots of fun, you and I."**

 **"I couldn't agree more."**

Tzeench doesn't turn to face the new voice, already aware of the being's presence. He does, however, smile into the distance.

 **"I don't suppose you're going to contest me, an eternal being, are you?"**

A tsk sound radiates around the cosmic space, seeming to echo off of invisible walls.

 **"Eternity is for the weak. Besides, you only exist as long as time, and time will eventually end."**

He said it with certainty, his voice mocking him as it echo's yet more.

Tzeench narrows his eyes, turning slightly to indicate his annoyance.

 **"Yes, it will, but what does that matter? It's not like you're truly immortal, either. As I recall, you were killed last time by two out of shape ordinary humans."**

A rapid laugh echoes about the space, but it quickly slows and darkens into a sinister chuckle.

 **"Ah... You think you're so interesting and knowledgeable, don't you? How about a bet, then? All you have to do is tell him about his origin before my plan is complete without personally visiting Remnant, or any other world he happens to travel to."**

Tzeench faces forward again, his eyes calmly watching reality with an omnipresent gaze.

 **"You've caught my interest. What could you possibly wager me that I would care about?"**

A smile appears on the unnamed creature, his thoughts whispered directly into Tzeench's non-physical ears.

 **"Freedom."**

Tzeench pauses, his eyes trailing to face the man before him.

 **"And what do you want?"**

The smile grows, not quite reaching the edges of his face.

 **"Time."**

* * *

Draga collapses onto the ground, ignoring the stiff painful feeling of impacting the well tread soil. They'd escaped the facility fairly easily, having been given an essentially empty place for a good thirty seconds which was all they really needed, but...

They'd failed, and the knowledge that the White Shark wasn't there offset everything else.

A new plan would have to be made regarding finding the thing, and then they'd scout it out and take it before anything else.

Trap or no trap, they only really needed Jaune's weapons. Odds are, they'd probably shoot down the ship, but hey; why would they need a weaponized zeppelin anyway?

Draga nod's to himself, glancing over to confirm that Schwarz had joined him back at camp. He was busy getting the materials for a fire, likely to cook something, so that was nice.

 _I better get some sleep, though. It might be early, but..._

He stretches, cracking the various vertebrae in his back and neck, before settling down for the night.

It seemed Schwarz had a similar plan, but with a slightly different method.

"I, Schwarz Himmel, call upon the ancient contract of ages past to summon thee."

 _Heh. See you tomorrow, power player._

* * *

 **Guys... I just got auto-filled support (I suck as both support and ADC) in League earlier today, and what followed was perhaps the most hopeless and crushing game of all time.**

 **For the enemy, of course.**

 **We had 4 people go S+, and the Shaco JG got an S-, and we had shit like Singed Ignite/Ghost-Mid and me going Mundo Heal-Support.**

 **Because of reasons.**

 **I'm still laughing.**

 **Anyway, to those of you who don't play League of Legends, I still have a small bit of news.**

 **I am looking for people to proofread a world for me.**

 **The world is going to be put within a game I plan on creating at some point in the future, and I have a ton of things planned for the supercontinent of Lent-Re. Who knows, maybe Draga can visit it one day.**

 **Nah, he won't. RWBY and Undertale are gonna keep him busy for a long, long time.**

 **Anyway, PM me or review if you are interested in helping me out. I'd really appreciate it.**


	50. Strings-2

**And crap... I released the wrong file. I had thought to take a drama route, but decided not to. I'm no Couer... So of course I put in the drama route.**

 **Fucking brilliant.**

 **Okay... It's a known fact that I procrastinate way too much, so I am going to change how this works. Every day, after my morning routine, I will write out a 1200-2000 word chapter before I do anything relating to gaming. As such, the chapters will be arriving at that size from now on. However, that also means you will be receiving daily updates.**

 **I'm only able to do this because my schedule evened out recently, but it should be possible to maintain this rate for quite a while. I can already see a break in late June-early July due to a trip I'm taking, but that should be about it. Writing out that much is around... An hour and half of work? I'll need to time myself.**

 **This should also free up my writing style a bit. So far, I've been stuck with 3700-4000 word entries which limit me to longform writing. I can create entire stories within that span, so it's very difficult to hide things like that. That's especially not helped by an inability to actually hide information like you can in animation. (I wrote Fickle Things the way I structured it so it acts like a script.)**

 **Anyway, look forward to getting a lot more frequent entries. I hope to see you all show up in my feed as well.**

* * *

Draga squints his eyes in a last vain attempt to resist the call of the sun.

The sun wins.

With a groan, Draga pulls himself to his feet. It was mid-morning, and he had work to do.

Specifically, he had money to earn and training to do. Unfortunately, that would require he actually head to town.

He starts off at a walking pace, gradually accelerating into an outright sprint.

When his speed maxed out, lightning came around him, completely purging air resistance. With the new speed boost, he zips across the forest, building up momentum yet further.

Finally, he plants his feet onto the ground sideways and slides.

Unlike what most would expect, Draga soars along the ground without loss of speed. His own design, the aura skates, pulse beneath him and prevent him from touching the ground entirely.

Combined with Electrical Shell, he has literally 0 forces acting to slow him down as he blazes through the forest, whirling around trees and dodging the occasional rock.

In this way, the half hour travel time was cut down to a meager few minutes.

Draga comes to a stop just as he enters the city itself.

As before, the streets are mostly void of people, but that is to be expected. The majority of people would be working by this time.

Well, either that, or it was a weekend. It was difficult to keep track of time when nothing relating to the days actually mattered to you.

Regardless, Draga searches the walls of the various buildings for a store. He was looking for work, since he needed actual cash for what he wanted, so anything would do.

Well, he thought that until he saw a magic shop.

Now, even on Disboard these were full of charlatans, but here... He figured it was worth a shot. After all, it would let him test the skill book system too.

With the sound of a bell, Draga steps inside the wooden door of the otherwise modernized building.

* * *

Schwarz looks up, cursing the sun with all of his might. Last night, he had called upon the air elemental and gotten a proper contract completed in a position masked from the sun by a tree.

Apparently, the universe didn't like him very much, so the leaves decided to fall around noon.

 _Ugh..._

He tries to roll over- to turn away from the sun- but a face greets him when he turns into the soil.

 _"Morning. It is. Schwarz."_

The man in question sighs, relieving himself of the momentary tension he'd gained upon seeing Boros. With a sharp inhale, he thrusts his hands downward and throws himself to his feet.

 _I guess it's time I checked on Vladimir._

As he thinks that, the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. That rudimentary signal wasn't actually the first sign that he was in danger since keen hunters could recognize bloodlust with their aura.

Schwarz freezes in his step, nod even turning to the man he knows was behind him. He didn't know who it was, but it was definitely a threat of some kind.

"Hello?"

His tone makes it more inquisitive than curious, which fits his own senses. He knew someone was there, he just needed a name.

"King."

 _Or a voice..._

The man in question let's out a sigh, allowing his body to relax but still remaining turned away.

"Draíochta."

With a simple pivot, Schwarz turns to face the bowing soul researcher. He was just as he remembered from being Grim, something that actually surprised him. Of all the people to deserve an update from a country gaining a seemingly limitless supply of dust, he'd expected it to be him.

The man ends his bow and smiles at him with the rigid posture of a butler.

"I need your assistance with something."

Schwarz raises an eyebrow, curious. It was rare for Draíochta to ask help of anyone, though Schwarz did have the advantage of being with him for most of his research.

"And what do you need my assistance with, exactly?"

His smile grows slightly further, his aura coming alight around him in a crimson glow. His striped suit loses it's shape, appearing to be the same color as his soul.

"I believe I've found the key to the Grimm."

Schwarz rolls his eyes at him, clearly disinterested. After all, he had spent the last 80 years controlling them and having semi-regular contact with their god.

"And what would that be?"

The man laughs lightly, apparently amused by Schwarz's apathy.

"Why, your friend of course."

* * *

Draga walks inside the shop, noting the demonic subtext. Pentagrams, alchemical symbols, and arcane text littered the walls in matching shades of red. The painted black surfaces provided just enough contrast for the dark color to remain visible.

Electric lighting didn't seem to exist inside, though there clearly was some form of light source as the books and stone artifacts placed inside various glass cases were easily visible.

The bell stops chiming behind him as the door slams shut.

"Hello?"

His call isn't answered, so he takes a few more steps inside to examine the books. There weren't any price tags on anything and they were all opened to various pages, preventing him from reading the names of the various obviously magical texts.

Stopping at one that was evidently about alchemy, he skims through the text on the left. It was a simple list of basic elements needed to construct a human body, and it was actually accurate. He remembered an anime Sora told him about that got everything wrong, especially in the realm of oxygen and hyrdogen, so they failed...

Hopefully that wasn't this.

"Welcome to Anam's magic shop. How can I assist you?"

Draga turns to the voice, examining the person in question. He seemed similar to Draco in some respects, including the spiral ram horns, but he seemed a lot more... normal. Instead of static or otherwise fucked up eyes, he just had those of a goat. There was no skin black as shadow, sickeningly purple, or blisteringly pale; he was just Caucasian.

His clothing was a bit different, including a bright red and black striped suit and matching magicians hat. He just screamed showman, even by his clothing choices, but something about him seemed trustworthy.

Maybe it was the fact that Draga only needed him for money.

Regardless, Draga faces him properly and introduces himself.

"I am Draga Konungur, and I need the money for a project I have in mind. Do you have any odd jobs for me?"

The man frowns, but it quickly returns to a neutral expression.

"I don't charge here, so I don't have currency to pay you with. I deal in knowledge. You give me something new, I give you something new."

Draga mirrors his previous action, but returns with a smile.

"I can show you some pretty cool skates."

The man returns with a knowing smirk.

"Please, I don't need to be educated on aura control. I mastered that ages ago. Right now... Grimm studies, yes. I believe that's where you could help me out."

Draga stares at him for a moment, but it was apparently long enough to prompt Anima to speak again.

"You did become the God of Grimm, right? The man that controls Grimm?"

Several blinks later, we were right back where we started with a dumbfounded stare.

"Oh come on, I know you can speak. Come on, let's go. I haven't got all day."

Draga shakes his head, apparently relieving himself of his stupor.

"How do you know about me? That was a different dimension."

He seems to question how to answer that, but his expression gives away nothing else as he returns Draga's suspicious glare. It didn't seem like he was in disbelief at least, but that didn't really help either of them at the moment.

"A different dimension, you say? I suppose you could always talk about that, but... For now, I'm far more interested in your aura."

He walks over casually, the sound of his boots the only sound in the room. He sets his hand upon Draga's shoulder and smiles with closed eyes.

"Do you know what black means?"

He pats Draga's shoulder once, a bright white spreading from the surface and rapidly encompassing Draga's body. While it was similar to Draga's own aura, it lacked the splotches he'd grown accustomed to.

Draga doesn't overreact, but he does take a rapid few steps away from the individual and bring out his own aura to bat it off. Knowing about Schwarz's story, he'd rather avoid losing his body.

That wasn't his intention, it seems, as Anam looks surprised by his withdrawal.

"What was that?"

He answers readily, the surprise fading from his face.

"I needed to show you something. Look down."

Draga does as he was told, looking down as his aura consumed what Anam put atop him.

That was the literal interpretation. A black dot grew from his chest, spreading and devouring the white above it.

Just as quickly as Draga looked downward, he was facing Anam again.

"What the hell was that?"

He smiles, though his closed eyes and the sudden smokey glow surrounding his body gives off more than his fair share of intimidating presence.

"Just what I expected, sir."

He bows, smiling as he seems to slide backwards inexplicably.

"A parting gift from your teacher, Draíochta Anam."

* * *

 **Ah... I finally get to return to explaining the Grimm themselves. This is going to be fun.**

 **The chapter is a bit short, around half of what you'd normally get, but... You're getting it somewhere between 3-7 times more often, so no complaints.**


	51. Strings-3

**Hey, what's up guys- it's me Jeremy, and today we're bringing you another Fickle Things screenplay.**

 **Jokes aside, here you go. Despite my doubts, this seems totally doable. I think the structure is going to help.**

 **Anyway, I figured I'd mention that I will begin rewriting up through Time-1 shortly. At that time, I will also be posting on Deviantart, so there's that. I don't hope to see you there, but that's only because it will be cripplingly behind where I'm posting now, so...**

 **Regardless, that should be of note to some of you.**

* * *

Draga's eyes follow Draíochta as he continues to somehow slide backwards without moving. The speed was rather fast, actually, so only a second passed before he hit the back wall.

To Draga's surprise, he doesn't actually move through it.

"Dammit. You were supposed to freak out and give me a chance for a dramatic escape."

He sighs, stepping forward casually.

Draga looks down, still surprisingly calm, and watches in fascination as the black aura splays out over him. It wasn't visibly dangerous and he didn't feel anything unusual, so that was a good sign at least. The problem was more about trust.

You can't honestly expect him to trust a black corrupting aura similar to what Sch-Grim did to him.

"Do you... Do you know what this is?"

He responds readily, expecting the question, but his attention remains fixed on Draga's chest where the black is spiraling around itself.

"I do. You know about matter and anti-matter, yes?"

Draga nods.

"I have a theory about aura, and it relies on something similar to that scientific idea. Have you heard of negative-mass particles?"

This time, Draga's forced to shake his head, though his eyes remain on the gradually expanding hurricane of aura below him.

"Well, anti matter is the opposite of matter in everything but mass, and it's able to destroy literally any other mass. Negative mass particles are instead born from the fluctuation of quantum fields, a range of study Gerrusan has been keen on for the sake of weaponry. They are born by the universe adding a positive and negative particle, effectively adding 0 energy to the universal scales."

He takes a breath, turning to look at some notes on a nearby counter for a second.

"The particles normally consume their sister particle, destroying one another before they can be used for anything. But, that is how the science applies to matter. What about the soul?"

It was rhetorical, so Draga doesn't respond.

"We know that the soul can do things- I more than anyone- so that means energy is being created. I tested it out, and the calories burnt to create aura cannot produce the same energy as aura does, so what's happening? I searched for a long time, trying to find an explanation, when the answer just came to me while listening to some Gerrusan researchers."

He whirls around, pulling himself to a stop to pensively hover over a piece of paper. He lowers a finger down to it, his aura coming forth to draw out an image in white. Once complete, he holds it out for Draga to take.

"Shown here are the tar pits they discovered creating Grimm in the swamps south-east of here. Using that, they created mutant Grimm, but something always bugged me. They had DNA, and their DNA was always the same within their species. Despite that, the elders were different in a way that experience alone wouldn't explain."

He takes another breath, using the time to collect his thoughts so he doesn't ramble on for the entire chapter.

"When they edited the DNA, they changed the creature, but their growth remained completely predictable. They couldn't explain it, but..."

He dramatically throws his hands into the air.

"If they have negative aura which tries to return them to their natural state, everything is explained!"

He bows repeatedly at different angles as if there was an audience, but by this point Draga was back to examining the swirling black substance that was close to encapsulating his body.

"And what does that mean, exactly?"

Draíochta smiles.

"It means that you are impossible. Your soul had negative aura and positive aura within it, not even like Schwarz and his semblance where he stories it technically within his shadow. You are part Grimm."

Draga raises an eyebrow, completely unimpressed.

"Gee, you figured that out did yah? Nice to know someone agreed with something I knew an entire lifetime ago. Does that actually mean anything productive?"

His smile diminishes slightly, the left-most corner curving in the way you'd expect of a frown.

"I don't know. That would be what I need from you, actually. I am not you, nor can I become you, so..."

Draga sighs, raising a hand to the bridge of his nose.

"You made me an experiment without even knowing what the experiment is? Great... You better have something actually useful to provide me."

He shrugs, one arm staying up to scratch as his spiked black hair.

"I got nothing, sorry. You said you needed money? What did you need it for, exactly?"

Draga clears his throat first, preparing for his own little speech.

"I needed someone to give me a set of tattoos to then imbue with magic to create replicas of the Marks of Kreasi."

Hey, I did say it was a little speech.

"That... I think I can handle that."

His smile said that it wasn't going to be the most pleasant of experiences.

* * *

Schwarz groans while watching his friend try in vain to taunt a Grimm into attacking him.

"Look, Dra, that's not how this works. Haven't you ever seen a monster TV show or movie?"

He frowns, leveling an annoyed glare at him.

"No, I haven't. Unlike you, I haven't had 80 years worth of all the most awful broadcasts to view over and over."

"Heh."

Schwarz puts his hands in his pockets and leans back again a tree. The forest surrounding him was not the one he'd been in for the last few weeks, but rather one directly adjacent to a bog. It wasn't particularly welcoming, especially with the rank stench for his sensitive nose to pick up on, but there was a Grimm Dra apparently needed to capture for his research.

"Do you even have a cage big enough for it? Confining Grimm within small spaces kills them."

His stare kind of answered that for him.

"Alright, but you're still going about this the wrong way. The monsters never come when you're ready. Here, let me show you. Say 'man, I guess he's gone. I guess we're safe.'"

There's a delay, but Dra indulges him.

"The monster sure is far away. Time to set up camp."

They both pause a moment, waiting for something to happen.

But nothing does.

"Come on, take a break. We can hunt it after lunch."

Dra sighs, but concedes the point. He relaxes slightly, looking to the horizon for something besides distant Mantis Grimm.

Gerrusan wasn't very creative.

"Yeah, I guess you're-"

He's thrown forward, slamming roughly into the mud and sliding several feet along it.

It's hard to hear through the mud, but a very muffled 'I hate you' is audible from the sludge.

"Join me when you're ready."

Schwarz manages to mask his chuckling under the confident smiles that forms on his face as Arachnae towers above them.

"Spiders. So original."

The furry arachnid roars, although it doesn't sound like the normal Grimm cries. It's not intimidating because their structure doesn't allow for more than a squeak.

Not that it wasn't loud enough to compensate.

Covering his ears with his left arm, Schwarz dashes forward.

* * *

 **Here you go guys, String-3. Only around 1300 words, but... I think I gave you enough exposition for one chapter. It may be simple to write, but it's not too easy on the eyes.**

 **See yall tomorrow.**


	52. Strings-4

**It's time.**

 **That is all.**

* * *

 _"Last check."_

 _"Fleet 1, check."_

 _"Fleet 2, check."_

 _"Fleet 3, check."_

 _"Fleet 4, check."_

 _"Fleet 5, check."_

 _"Fleet 6, check."_

 _"Fleet 7, check."_

...

 _"Fleet 8? You there?"_

 _"Sorry, sorry. Fleet 8, check."_

 _"Check complete. Head on out."_

* * *

Draga rubs his arms slowly, instinctively trying to remove the source of pain. Actively resisting what his subconscious demanded of him, he leaves his new tattoos alone for the moment.

"That's it?"

He receives a nod in return.

"Well, I'll tell you if anything happens to me because of the black aura. I'm gonna go.

Draíochta doesn't so much as wave as Draga rises from the rather comfortable armchair and makes his way out the door. He might not have gotten the money he was looking for, but that didn't really matter much now.

A glance at his exposed left arm would reveal wet auburn tattoos stacked between his wrist and elbow.

They didn't hold any intrinsic meaning, especially the one that looked like a slightly damaged hashtag, but their usefulness, should they work, would be more than worth the time.

 _I'm supposed to rest now, right?_

After a moment spent mulling that over, Draga shrugs. _I suppose resting wouldn't hurt either way._

In a comparatively slow walk, Draga spends the first half hour of the afternoon heading back to camp.

* * *

Schwarz ducks beneath another lunging spider, a reflexive rising of his hand effectively impaling its thorax. He whirls his hand around, intentionally throwing the corpse at it's queen, Arachnae.

She, much like him, just deflects the projectile while continuing pursuit through the trees. With her swarm flowing forward beside her, losing them would be it's own challenge.

"Dra?"

A voice yells something inaudible from the distance, but, knowing him as well as Schwarz does, he can tell it was something along the lines of 'shut up, I'm working on it.'

Schwarz groans, his unwilling companion- the same Nevermore from before- getting thrown into harms way for him yet again.

Spiders tear it apart, ending it's life yet again, but Schwarz dashes into the group with his hands outstretched to cleave through the lesser Grimm like nothing.

The Nevermore is absorbed, yet again, and Schwarz returns to his withdrawal.

"You're certainly taking your time!"

To his surprise, Draíochta actually calls out loud enough for him to hear.

"SHUT UP!"

As he says that, a flash is visible from the distance.

And then a blast.

The brilliant white light was all that could be seen for several seconds, a beam of aura blasting forth and tearing the Grimm asunder. Unlike many other attacks, the aura cannon passes by the trees, insects, and animals without causing so much as a burn.

For the Grimm, it was death.

Schwarz moves quickly, dashing to where Arachnae was a moment prior in an attempt to capture her being before she faded.

If he failed, the mission would be a complete failure.

Fortunately, Schwarz had been training his agility for his entire life, so the distance was covered before the attack had faded into the distance.

 _Good enough._

Black smoke hisses out of him, relieving the Nevermore of it's position to allow for Arachnae, but the cost was minimal. After all, even Giant Nevermore were fairly common in the wild.

"Dra! Let's go!"

"Sure thing"

The mage in question speeds up to him, not quite as quickly as Schwarz's own motions.

"You remember the old mutant Grimm labs, right?"

Schwarz nods, already turning to walk off back to Gerrusan.

"Of course I do. I assume you're going to use the Emperor Taijitu's enclosure."

"Uh... No."

Schwarz stops, turning his head to look at him.

"They have something bigger in this world?"

A slow nod.

"You'll see soon enough."

* * *

 _"Engage. I repeat: engage."_

Air raid sirens fill the air, but it was too late. The swarm of airships sail over Vale, speeding across the city towards Beacon. Bombs drop from the compartments, dropping down to tear apart the campus.

Within a few minutes, the entire academy was already rubble.

 _"Atlas forces incoming."_

The airships complete a u-turn in unison, coming to face what little Atlas kept near Vale for emergencies.

Gerrusan was no mere Grimm incursion.

The ships needn't worry, for their numbers and weapons were both far beyond what was here.

 _"Permission to open fire?"_

 _"Granted."_

Each ship flips a single lever.

 **(I don't know how to type gunfire noises...)**

A hail of bullets unlike anything seen before spews forth, ripping apart the hulls and blowing the ships to oblivion within seconds.

Fraser smirks, looking down through the glass of his command ship at the city below. It would be all too easy to destroy the town, but they had other matters to attend to.

SCREECH!

"And there it is."

The ships turn once more in unison to face their opponent: a dragon.

The edges of his lips tilt upwards into a proper smile, but not one anybody would be happy to see.

Not that the Grimm dragon could.

 _"Open fire!"_

Ice dust fires from front mounted cannons, spraying the mountainous beast with far more than it's fair share.

Of course, if you were going to carry something across an ocean, you needed a little time.

It doesn't get a chance to so much as fight before it falls from the sky, crashing heavily upon the ground in a pile of newly destroyed houses. The fall breaks much of the ice, but they simply pour more on.

 _"Harpoons!"_

Twelve of the forty-five ships surround the beast from the sky, getting in position before firing the aforementioned metal spikes at it from above.

With a grip established, the previously light vehicles struggle to haul it into the air.

Nonetheless, they succeed, bringing the beast back into the sky.

 _"Return to base."_

The mission was over in as little as eighteen minutes, but Vale was already decimated. With many of the hunters and their weapons blown to hell, the Atlas forces already stationed there destroyed, and enough fear spread throughout the populace to summon the Grimm dragon...

It was time to leave.

* * *

Draga summons up his aura again, just watching the black effect with a kind of childlike wonder. It wasn't particularly new- he had, after all, had a black soul before- but it was far more reactive and beautiful now.

Spiral patterns wove their way across it, constantly shifting to form new ones as images, like that of Grimm, occasionally manifest within the gaps or centers of them. It was kind of hard to imagine, actually, but he could see the ebb and flow for himself.

Kind of hard to argue with your eyes, even if you knew what you were seeing was wrong.

Not to say it was wrong. The black aura felt odd, but not negative really. It's just... Different. It didn't give him the rush of energy and strength that the normal aura did, but instead seemed to clear his thoughts and sharpen his focus.

All in all, that would be a pretty useful ability on it's own, but he'd yet to experiment with it.

For instance, how would Grimm react to him now?

 _There's only really one way to find out, isn't there?_

He hadn't settled down yet, so he just changes his previous direction to a slightly more southern one. He had a swamp to visit.

* * *

"What the hell were they storing here?!"

Schwarz's voice echoes back at him, the sound waves easily bouncing off the painted white paneled walls of the colossal room. With a roof more than a hundred feet up and an equally ridiculous diameter for the circular biocylinder, it was more than intimidating.

The thought only worsened when he realized that whatever was in here probably still existed.

Draíochta walks past him, examining the upturned grass and trees cautiously. He seemed unsure about what he was doing, which certainly wasn't helping.

"Have you ever seen the movie Grimmzilla? It was terrible, so you probably have at some point."

Schwarz just stares at him, silently begging him to say he was joking.

He wasn't.

Fortunately, that wasn't the full story.

"It isn't quite as ridiculous as the story says. It's only around seventy feet tall, from the three-hundred and fifty the movie claims, and it can't reproduce. Unfortunately, the plasma breath and regeneration powers are definitely there.

Schwarz groans, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose sharply.

"And what did they do with it? I don't suppose it can teleport too."

That last statement was expressed more as a question, something Draíochta was able to pick up on rather easily.

"I don't know where it went, but I know it can't teleport. If it could, it would have left long before the experiments began."

Schwarz chuckles, somewhat nervously.

"Gee, that's comforting. It's always nice to know that Gerrusan is messing with stronger Grimm than even existed last time."

Draíochta freezes, as if paused in time. That lasts several seconds, but eventually he manages to let a few incredulous words out.

"He... He wasn't bluffing?"

Schwarz looks at him, slightly confused, before making the connection between one of Dra's previous statements and this.

"Draga wasn't lying, at least about the other dimension thing."

Draíochta blinks a few more times.

Without warning, he whirls around, grabbing Schwarz's shoulders and shaking him by them.

"THEN WHAT ABOUT YOURSELF!? WHY CAN'T I SEE YOU ANYMORE?"

Schwarz shoves him off, sparing a moment to smooth out his overcoat.

"Me and Draga already confirmed the omniverse, so there is an infinite number of dimensions where he's an idiot. Combined with his god's intervention, I would not be at all surprised if this is simply a repeat."

Draíochta sighs into his hand, looking at him with as blank an expression as you can while still displaying annoyance.

"Right... Well, I'm gonna just deal with that later. For now, summon her up."

Schwarz gives him a cocky smile before coming alight with black, though a more natural shade compared to Draga's new aura. Smoke floats off of it and the smell of burning slowly permeates the area.

In the fraction of a second it takes for Arachnae to spew forth from his shadow, that smile quickly vanishes.

"GET ON THE GROUND!"

Lights come up across the ceiling, brightening the room enough to blind it's occupants. Covering their eyes, Schwarz and Draíochta both fling themselves behind some downed trees. I suppose that they technically did follow orders.

At the minimum, they'd been given that much time from the sudden brightening of the room.

Arachnae was not nearly as lucky. Unlike the two hunter level combatants, Arachnae was ill prepared for both the sudden appearance into the world and the equally abrupt loss of her vision.

Ice dust spews from unseen weapons, locking her feet to the ground before she can recover and slowly heading up her body.

A single sentence is heard over the loudspeaker before all hell breaks lose.

"Eight down, two to go."

* * *

Captain Fraser smiles, looking down at the completed project. While Arachnae was certainly a surprise, alarms had gone off minutes ago for their entrance into the previously abandoned facility.

Weapons were already stationed there, and it took was a single button press for the system to capture 'Grimmzilla'.

Now there were only two pesky humans to deal with before his project could finally get going.


	53. Strings-5

With the Grimm captured, the IDL-803s, or Frost Cannons, cease their firing. In the moment of calm granted by that, Schwarz peaks over the tree to scan for enemies.

Excluding the guns, which were currently retreating back into the walls of the room, he didn't see any.

That was either a really good thing, or a horrible thing.

 _Knowing my luck, I'm gonna guess the latter._

He ducks back down, returning to his other senses. His ears scan for sounds, especially footsteps, while his nose fruitlessly tries to detect anything other than grass pollen. Unfortunately, he senses nothing.'

Draíochta seems to have locked onto something, though how is unclear. The man wasn't a faunus, so his senses should all be inferior to his own.

 _Then again, he is a master of aura. Perhaps he can sense others with it?_

Some evidence for it, though not confirmation, comes a moment later when Draíochta dives to the side, dragging Schwarz with him.

Why is that evidence, you might ask?

The area they were explodes in a shower of dust and dirt as Fraser smashes heavily into the ground.

"Hey, Dra-Dra, did-ja miss me?"

He straightens himself into a casual but functional stance, looking at the both of them while the dust settles.

"I gotta say, I missed you."

* * *

His hands raised defensively, Draga slowly steps up towards the Beowulf. It wasn't being aggressive, which was good, but it clearly recognized that he was there. It's blood red eyes weren't fixed on him, but they occasionally landed upon him as it looked around.

This was the second Beowulf he'd approached, but the reactions were different. The first one had acted as if Draga hadn't existed, simply pushing by without pause. Obviously, he wasn't exactly happy with that kind of explanation.

After all, it doesn't cover why things do the things they do.

 _And you're not going to help me._ It was a rhetorical statement, so even if the Beowulf could respond it shouldn't.

Draga waits, checking to make sure that it, in fact, didn't respond to him. Knowing his luck, he'd be wrong about everything.

But, no, there was no response.

 _Fair enough._

So, he was immune to Grimm attacks. That's it. He lost inhuman speed and strength in exchange for the ability to not fight enemies he'd probably crush anyway.

Totally a fair trade.

Turning to leave, Draga lets out a sigh.

 _You know, on second thought, I think that's more than worth it._

'Such a change in opinion doesn't just happen, so what was the cause?' you might be asking.

A wyrm, not to be confused with a worm. Wyrms were in the class of dragons. They were long scaled creatures, similar to snakes, who only exist to kill what's in their way.

This one in particular had black scales with white edges coating a more than a dozen feet tall beast who's tail wasn't even in sight.

It's head, which was pointed directly at him, had a hooked shape reaching over it's nostrils, likely to protect it from trees while it barrels through the environment, and a mouth large enough to swallow him, standing up, completely whole.

Worst of all, though, had to be the eyes.

Completely red and lacking irises, the slitted orbs pointed down at him sharp enough to appear glowing.

Either that, or they were actually glowing. It was hard to tell.

Unwilling to move, Draga stands completely and watches it from the unfortunately small distance it was at.

"Hello?"

The beasts body starts coiling behind it, though that might have to do with the almost fluid nature it existed in. Even as it stared down upon him, it's head was slowly bobbing around.

 **"Hello."**

* * *

Without waiting for a reply, Fraser lunges towards Draíochta with a hand outstretched.

Dra reacts quickly, rolling to the side and deflecting the followup strike with a spare hand.

The both of them come alight with their auras, though it's evident from first sight that Fraser's is more powerful. The pressure coming off of the orange barrier is more than enough evidence for that.

With his semblance made useless and his own aura partially depleted already, Schwarz acts intelligently and leaps away from the confrontation, landing easily in a crouched position a rather large distance away.

Fraser ignores him, instead focusing on an old friend. He still appears unarmed, but that doesn't really matter much since they both are.

"You've lost your touch. If you were still a member of the AU, you'd have obliterated me the moment you knew I was here."

Draíochta smiles, glancing up towards him from his kneeling position upon the soil.

"And you've lost yours. Wouldn't the same apply to you, Captain of the Assassin Unit?"

Fraser smiles, even going so far as to close his eyes to boost the expression. When you could sense the location and fluctuation of aura, battling an auramancer didn't require vision.

"Oh, I don't want you dead."

His smile grows, showing off teeth sharp enough to call his humanity into question.

"I want you to suffer like you made me long ago!"

He lunges forward yet again, though this time with his aura boosting his speed.

It was just enough to make contact, even if it was a glancing scrape on his opponents forearm.

 _One down, one to go._

The area becomes coated in black, the material quickly being overwhelmed by Draíochta's aura, but that wasn't the reason he was confident in his victory.

As white consumed black, the space they occupied remained barren of the protective layer.

Fraser draws an optimized magnum from a holder on his thigh, the weapon already aimed before his opponent could launch an attack.

"What'll it be, Dra? An arm for your trouble?"

Despite the question, Fraser pulls the trigger.

The bullet shoots forward, reaching speeds that even a hunter couldn't compare with. The bullet didn't have to be strong because of his fighting style; it just had to be fast.

And that it was.

Draíochta instinctively grabs the wound while holding back the sound of his pain.

"I'm not going down that easily."

Fraser smiles in return.

"I wouldn't expect you to."

His left arm reaches into a pouch within his military grade cargo pants, easily whipping out a multi-purpose combat knife with a flourish.

"That doesn't mean you won't suffer."

Draíochta smiles, closing his eyes for a moment.

"You know what they say, an eye for an eye."

When his open, they flash with aura, providing a momentary lapse in his opponents sight.

With the spare second he'd been granted, Dra lifts up an arm towards Fraser.

"Alitrastrate."

The arcane summoning circle appears directly in front of his hand, shortly followed by a bolt of red lightning.

It was aimed at the sky.

"A castle for a castle."

The sky fell.

* * *

 **I'm sorry about the short length, guys. I had school, I cooked dinner today, I had to pick up my brother, and my cousin Tim came over to play Cards Against Humanity, complete with all the expansions and the 2-6 sets of Crabs Adjust Humidity.**

 **It was awesome, but very, very time consuming.**

 **Hey, I met my standards of length and published while it was still today. I'd call that a win.**


	54. Strings-6

**Still not getting any reviews...**

 **Drats.**

* * *

Draga pauses, tilting his head at the wyrm with a silent question.

It seems to understand him.

 **"Yes, I am talking to you."**

He doesn't pinch himself to check if he was dreaming, but he finds it worthwhile to question his sanity. Normal people aren't talked to by gigantic snake-like dragons who sound like Dwayne the Rock Johnson.

"Why are you talking, and they aren't?"

It's not actually moving it's mouth to speak, something that is definitely confusing, but it puffs air out it's nostrils in time with a silent laugh.

 **"They can't. You Horsemen might not know, but 10 Grimm kings exist. While three of us are kinds of dragons, we have different forms and command different kinds of Grimm."**

 _Huh. What an informative Grimm._

 **"Now, what brings you to my swamp? I assume you aren't here for a simple visit."**

"Then you would be wrong."

While it would be in character- supposedly, since Draga didn't actually know who he was acting as- to request something, he had nothing for the Grimm to do.

 _Actually..._

"Do you know where Grim went?"

There was a pause, allowing it's massive teal eyes to 'blink' once.

 **"That overbearing git is gone? Thank the heavens. Do you know how many times he wrested control from me? It's insufferable."**

Draga frowns, looking down slightly.

"You aren't aware of what's going on with the world?"

 **"Nope."**

It was flat and as serious as could possibly be.

Which meant he wasn't going to learn anything useful, at least for him, at the moment.

 **"Oh, hey, did you hear about what happened to Arachnae?"**

Draga's confused expression and upward glance were more than enough of an answer.

 **"She got killed again- _I hope she waits a few years before reviving._ The killers went someplace north of here. You might want to check it out; one of the guys seemed too powerful for Malkuth to just let slide.** **"**

He ponders what to do for a moment, but shrugs off the concerns. His aura may be different, but he still appeared either human or faunus at his leisure.

"And just where did they go?"

The conversation stops when the ground suddenly shakes beneath them.

* * *

Fraser narrows his eyes but doesn't attack again. After all, there was a little less than a kilometer of dirt, stone, and metal his opponent could pull down towards them.

A single cave-in was already going to be a hassle.

Schwarz, who had already retreated to the entrance and was making his way outside after the blast, was more or less safe, but Draíochta and Fraser were both right smack in the middle of it. There wasn't time to escape directly, so...

Rocks bear down upon them, ranging from toothless pebbles to massive monstrosities created from the combination of construction pieces and the stone far above.

Fraser acts first, lunging the short distance between them with intent to poison his aura again.

Draíochta, fully aware of his plans, spins around on one food and slams his heel into Fraser's shoulder. The impact doesn't seem to hurt that much, but it greatly extends the distance between the two by plowing Fraser backwards.

And then the impacts begin.

Being the largest target, Arachnae gets hit first. A boulder, more massive than even the giant creatures icy prison, fell down and blew it apart, killing the spider queen in a shower of frost and pulverized stone.

Fraser lets out an annoyed sigh, his eyes locking on his opponent. He worked hard to gather seven other Grimm kings, and they were going to revoke a gift?

Unacceptable.

His aura comes alive, the power of which washes off of him in visible waves at each instant the 'flames' flair.

Four flairs and two seconds in, he dashes again, this time exceeding a speed Draíochta could react to.

Unfortunately for Fraser, Dra had been preparing before the strike began.

A wave of fire blasts from his hands, spreading in a massive cone until it hit the back wall of the room. The burst melts everything in it's path, but not all at once, so Fraser is able to dive out of the radius after taking only a split second of the attack.

Unfortunately, that was still quite a lot. While it drained both of their auras by roughly the same percentage, Fraser just had a ridiculous amount more.

That wasn't a sustainable strategy.

 _Fine, tough guy. I'll play your little game._

Fraser throws himself back to dodge a particularly well timed boulder. The temporary cover it provides allows him to run, but not to escape.

Draíochta attempts pursuit, but the hail of stones makes it rather hard for him to chase after the genuinely faster of the two.

Fraser arrives at a wall, searching the surface for a roughly two inch white button sticking out of a panel. The button in question was fairly high up, but not out of reach for someone like him.

He leaps into the air, soaring up to where he needs to be. The button pressed by his left hand, he grips the top of the sliding panel with his right to hold him there.

Intended for maintenance, these difficult to see buttons allows you to access the Frost Cannons.

Of course, they could technically be wielded by hand.

Fraser jams a hand inside, even before the panel has properly opened, and tears the weapon from its mechanical tripod. While it's fairly heavy nature, he whips it out and aims rather fluidly.

Holding the trigger attached to the base, a stream of blue shoots out in Dra's general direction.

And really, with such a long ranged and effective weapon, that was all you really needed.

* * *

Draga takes a second to recover his breath from the sprint. Keeping up with a wyrm was tough.

And before you ask, no, Draga wasn't allowed to right the giant serpentine dragon literally through the forest.

 _That would have been pretty cool, though._

The forest kind of cut off at what looked like an abandoned factory of some kind, but there wasn't any evidence of what caused the incredibly loud noise.

"Any ideas?"

The wyrm, established as Asmodeas along the way, slowly slithers past the newly decimated barbed wire fence in search of something.

He probably wasn't looking for what he got, though.

Lacking a stable structure, and now weighed down by the massive creature, the ground collapses.

* * *

Fraser looks up from the panel he was holding himself to, catching sight of the falling sky.

Not for very long, though, as thousands of pounds of stone, soil, and Wyrm slam into him, easily wrenching him from his position and burying him in the rubble.

Draíochta, easily shattering the ice that hat landed over his feet, leaps away from the Wyrm.

Unfortunately, dodging an entire simultaneously falling ceiling wasn't nearly as easy.

With the last instant before the rocks land on top of him, Draíochta whips his hand up and calls forth an aura barrier above him to deflect and block as much force as possible.

It cracks under the force, but holds on just long enough for the rocks to settle.

Draíochta sighs, noting the complete rock wall holding him in place. He wasn't going to be able to escape without the help of someone else, so he flairs his aura to signal Schwarz.

 **ROAR!**

 _Oh for the love of!  
_

* * *

 **Hey guys, what's up? I'm apologize for the brevity, but I cut a few hundred words out of the end because I ended up making a few serious mistakes, but then I ran out of time to replace it...**

 **Yeah... Hey, it still reaches the minimum length, but I swear the next one will be longer.**


	55. Strings-7

**So... I derped. I completed this chapter yesterday, but I failed to actually publish it. So, I guess you get two chapters today. YAY!**

 **Here you go, then.**

* * *

Draga, standing at the edge of the massive hole created in the middle of the facilities courtyard, merely looks down at the absolute havoc the fall caused. Dust shot up nearly half the distance between the floor and him, with stone filling around half of that distance as well.

As the dust started to settle and the Wyrm finally came into view, Draga instantly regretted coming here.

 **ROAR!**

The Wyrm bellows up through the pit, easily shaking the earth with it's cry. Of course, that shaking could partially be attributed to it's writhing form sliding around in a chaotic fashion.

It was not happy.

 _Wow, I might have actually broken my understatement record._

That wasn't very easy.

 _Ah, a close second. Better luck next time._

Draga, apt not to hurl himself into danger for no good reason, merely observes the absolute chaos the maelstrom of a draconic being was creating.

If we're sticking to honestly, Draga probably wouldn't be there if not for the distance.

As the ground rumbles and quakes below him, the universe conspires to screw him over yet again.

Fortunately, for him anyway, Draga had anticipated this, so he leaps back from the newly collapsing edge.

Only to have it fall on top of the Wyrm.

 _Oh dear..._

* * *

Schwarz groans, using his elemental to forcibly clear a path into the room. It was slow going for unfortunately obvious reasons. The Wyrm lashing out at empty space combined with the sheer density of the rock in the way...

It was going to take a while.

When he'd cleared an entire maze in seconds, it was possible thanks to the relatively high amount of space occupied by air and the easy access to open air.

Now, though...

Fortunately, he knew where Draíochta was. His ping combined with Schwarz's elemental's senses gave him more than enough idea where he was.

Unfortunately, that was directly beneath where the Wyrm was currently coiling up.

 _Hang in there mate._

* * *

Draíochta coughs a few times, clearing the dust from his lungs, before starting to heal himself. Considering the massive threat even he could locate just above him, he really needed to be in prime condition.

There wasn't much he could do, though. Schwarz would have been notified and aura didn't destroy rocks.

 _Man, if only I had something to cause explosions..._

He sighs, attempting to nestle himself as far into the ground as possible.

To his surprise, it slides down beneath him.

 _What?_

The stone sinks beneath him, pulling him away from danger at a fairly slow rate.

It was simultaneously terrifying and wonderful. It might not have saved him on it's own, but it would certainly help.

An aura ping sent by Schwarz, a frantic and wavering one, tells him something's wrong, though.

 _Oh goodie._

* * *

Draga yells down at the chaotic beast, a mixture of concern and fear tainting his voice.

"Asmodeas! What are you doing!?"

Smoke slowly starts rising from it's form, flowing upwards with the newly raised pulverized-stone dust. Of course, with how thin it is in comparison, it's difficult to tell.

Another roar breaches into the sky, though the sound is deeper and resonates through the ground rather than the air.

 _ **"YOU'VE COME INTO MY DOMAIN, ASMO!"**_

And then, just like that, the ground parts ways.

 _ **ROAR!**_

The ground below tears apart into a chasm, revealing the gaping maw, one vast enough to devour the Wyrm whole, with bore like teeth sticking up from the edges.

With a solid surface provided by the falling stones, Asmodeas attempts to launch himself out of the apparent mouth.

 **"I DON'T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!"**

His attempt fails, as the mouth closes around him before sinking back into the earth with a deafening quake.

Just at it had come, it was gone.

That is to say, incredibly loud and obvious, but also completely unstoppable.

It was said once before, by a man from a vastly different and distant land, but it stands as truth here again.

"I've begun to find a dark humor in the absolute overkill I face. This is simply ridiculous."

* * *

 **For the sake of story structure and pacing, I'm putting the authors note here.**

 **So, somebody mentioned in a review the nod to Risk of Rain that I inserted, including the question of why Providence died so easily when he's the final boss of the game.**

 **I have created so many stories with Draga over the 10 years I've had him, that I probably couldn't ever run out of them. Unfortunately, only four timelines intertwine with Fickle Things.**

 **Grand Challenge, the timeline that involves more of Risk of Rain and Warhammer, isn't one of them. To him, I apologize, but I will probably get on that when Fickle Things finishes since it's simultaneously far shorter and easier to write out.**

 **For now, though, that avenue is sealed. The same is true of Akilahara and the story All Is Dust, though I probably will save that for much later.**

 **In case you hadn't noticed, I have too many ideas for my own good.**

 **On a related note, I am looking for a partner in writing out an SAO fic based on a suggestion made to me by a close friend. Essentially, we'd be creating SAO again. Same game, same environment, even the same characters, but we'd do it from a systemically sound focus and with characters acting how you'd actually expect them to.**

 **The reason I need a partner for this is twofold. First, I suck at writing drama and dialogue. It's harder to see here, since I'm writing dialogue differently on purpose, but I just can't come up with jokes, proper romance, or express low level emotional weight.**

 **The other reason, and the one you'd probably care about more as a reader who has gotten this far in, is that I am going to continue writing Fickle Things. This eats up a lot of time, so I need the additional manpower.**

 **Alright, I'll get back to the story. Have at ye.**

* * *

Draíochta squints, temporarily blinded by the bright light of wherever the hell he was. As his eyes adjust, he gets a faint view of the silhouette of a person.

"Isn't that just unfortunate. Eaten by Crom Cruach and THEN crushed inside of him by Asmodeas. Can you fathom the odds?"

Around the time whoever it was finished gushing about Draíochta's apparent death, he finally came into vision.

Despite the relatively high pitched voice and the excited squeal he released when Draíochta appeared here, he was actually a fairly masculine man. Standing just under his own height at 6'4" and with a ripped, albeit small, body to boot.

The whole blinding light and cloud thing kind of offset it, though, making him appear more like a dork than anything else.

"Is this heaven?"

That may have sounded like a reasonable question to many. Hell, there was even a golden castle in the distant background. But, no, the man just laughed at him.

"Heaven?! *Haha* No! You're in Death! Lord knows why you fools keep thinking this is Heaven if and when you return to the normal world. I mean, it's full of Grim Reapers and everyone goes here when they die. Well, except for a few special cases..."

As he says the final sentence, 'Death' looks down to someplace beneath the cloud cover with an annoyed stare.

"Anyway, welcome to Mati, the realm of Death. Since you were simultaneously influential and died in a hilarious manner, I decided to see to you personally. I am Malaikat, the head reaper. Anything you'd like to know before we begin the tour?"

There's a pause, giving Draíochta just enough time for his brain to reboot. Being dead didn't seem all that different. In fact, a simple flip of a mental switch triggered his aura to come alight.

So many questions, but one rose to the top pretty quickly.

"What about Oum?"

That seems to hit a nerve, and Malaikat looks down sadly.

"Oum... Oum passed on, and gods don't have an afterlife..."

Draíochta looks down, silently mourning the deity.

"So he was the one true God?"

Malaikat snorts, a flicker of a smile appearing on his face.

"No, no... He was just the one most attributed with creating Remnant. Even now, many are shaping this world from beyond the Veil."

Draíochta sighs, turning to the castle.

"So what now?"

"You just exist."

 _Huh..._

"This is the end, then?"

Malaikat smiles, though sadly.

"Oh, this isn't the end; death is eternal."


	56. Strings-8

Schwarz stumbles several steps backwards in absolute awe at what he'd just witnessed. Yes, he couldn't see the creature with his eyes, but the elemental let him view far more than he'd ever wanted to.

The creature was gargantuan, it's mouth reaching more than 200 feet across and with an equally preposterous length that reached well past his own inability to sense.

Crom Cruach was the largest Grimm in his own world as well, but this...

This was on a completely different level.

So much had changed, such as the existence of Arachnae, but that was at least reasonable. Suddenly being ten times as large wasn't.

 _The hell is even going on here?_

The Wyrm was new too. Hell, Fraser said something about having 8/10ths of his plan after capturing Arachnae, meaning there are probably ten of the new super Grimm.

That was terrifying.

Even worse, though, was imagining just what happened to the normal and mutant Grimm. If Crom was so much larger, what about the ordinary Grimm worms or the Death-Eaters?

Those things were already horrifying on their own. Toss in a buff unlike anything he'd witnessed without Draga's game, and...

Ugh.

 _Actually, while I'm on the subject, what about the other insane Grimm? They wouldn't buff just Crom and the worms, would they?_

No answers were forthcoming, but that was to be expected when he wasn't asking anyone who could possibly know. Then again, whether he wanted answers at all was a question he'd have to reevaluate as well.

But not now. He turns around, facing back into the facility, and starts sprinting out of it.

* * *

Draga stands atop the edge of the cliff, watching dumbfounded at the now deepened pit below.

Alagut Furrow had nothing on this guy.

Even worse, though, was that neither Xander or Caelem were here. The strongest person who might be up help only controlled time, so he didn't actually have a way to destroy a Grimm that huge.

 _God damn, I gotta get stronger then, don't I?_

Draga cracks as many joints as he could to pump himself up before running towards Beacon. Ozpin might not be able to destroy Crom, but he might know someone who could.

Besides, it's not like they were enemies yet.

What could go wrong.

* * *

Cinder narrows her eyes in the direction of the crumbled Beacon tower. A year of planning completely obsolete because of a half hour of work.

Admittedly, the artifact could still be acquired, but the maiden...

Amber was en route to Atlas already, and it would be far harder to take her from there. Atlas was, after all, the last target they'd planned for due to their vast air-force and infantry.

Yes, they were vulnerable to hacking, but it would require an unfathomable amount of stupidity on their part to take over all of their command ships.

 _Tsk._

She turns on her heel, looking back into the distance in the direction of Mistral.

So little time since she left, yet she was already on her way back.

And without a team, either.

 _I guess they weren't worth their salt, either.  
_

A single tear betraying her otherwise stoic expression, Cinder starts the trek back home.

* * *

Ozpin sighs, shaking his head at the direction of the destroyed school. He'd escaped the explosions easily enough, but many of the students were trapped within the falling building.

An unknown enemy comes in, tears apart the school, kills a number of his students and one of his staff, and then vanishes into the distance.

They were going down.

"Glynda, Bart, you have a mission. I want those people dead."

There's a nod from the both of them.

"Good. I will see you shortly; I have a mission of my own to attend to."

Oz turns into the wind, lifting his hand to take a sip of coffee, only to realize the mug was gone.

 _Another thing to fix when I visit Vladimir, then._

He takes a step forward, walking directly off the edge of Beacon's front cliff.

With so many people to see, he didn't have the time for walking.

Just as he covered the lip of the platform, he vanished into the mist.

* * *

Salem glares out from the balcony window. Gerrusan had gotten the best of her before, and it wasn't going to repeat itself anymore.

Giving up Grimm was easy enough; there was an effectively limitless supply, after all.

But this... Taking away Fall...

It wouldn't stand.

They had a war coming, and it was one they were going to regret.

"Tyrian?"

The faunus in question rushes up to answer her call, though his eagerness is unfortunately prioritized over appearances.

 _Walking on all fours... Disgraceful._

"Yes, mistress?"

She turns to face him, her eyes cold and worn.

"There is a man you need to kill. Find and terminate Vladimir Tsarnoff."

A wicked smile appears on her subordinate's face, but he quickly replaces it with fear at her gaze. Fortunately, he seemed to understand her silent 'Get going, you fool' from just her expression.

 _If only he was actually an intelligent maniac, like Tuan._

The man in question steps into the room.

"You're sending him rather than me on a kill quest? Why?"

She smiles.

"You have a much more important job, of course. With Amber taken in by Atlas and Gerrusan beginning it's invasion plan earlier than expected, I need you to go on a far less discrete mission."

She pauses, tilting her head up slightly to appear more authoritative to the relatively short individual. While she was his boss, sometimes the insane individuals of her group get it in their head that they should disobey over a little fun.

Failure would not be tolerated here, no matter the reason.

"Destroy Gerrusan."

Tuan smiles.

"May Cantalous be with you."

* * *

Ironwood slams his fist against the table, completely outraged at what he'd just seen.

"Who is this?! Who destroyed Beacon?!"

Neither of the soldiers behind him could answer his demand, so he was left with a newly broken desk and a headache.

The moment a culprit was found, they were dead.

Until then, though...

 _I'm going to have to see Torchwick about this._

* * *

Vladimir smiles, looking at the screen before him.

Atlas didn't suspect a thing.

After all, no airforce could match theirs.

But who said they'd rely on the skies?

"Bring me some popcorn, would you? I'd rather like to enjoy the show."

A man outside his sight radius scrambles out of the room to grab his demand.

Nobody said no to an immortal general, not even his boss.

* * *

The stone shifts, allowing a hand to reach forth and take shape in the dying light of the evening sun.

The hand is shortly followed by another, and then an entire person.

Fraser.

* * *

 **And that concludes Strings, which was more of a setup than anything else. I officially welcome you to the next set of chapters: Chaos.**

 **Shit is about to get wild.**

 **In unrelated news, I've noticed a decline in views on brand new chapters. If anyone has thoughts on that, I'm all ears. While I love creating stories on their own, I type the thing out for you guys (and girls), so I'd like to maximize your satisfaction in any way that doesn't compromise the stories integrity.**

 **I apologize about it being fairly short, but there simply wasn't much to put down. I promise that, bare minimum, the next five will be a lot longer. There's so much to do, hidden interactions to revealed, oh, it just kills me inside to finally explain myself.**

 **Anyway, I am rambling, aren't I? I must bid you, and this section, ado.**

 **Ciao.**


	57. Chaos-1

"Torchwick."

"Ironwood."

The two of them stare at each other from across the room, both content with their positions.

Unfortunately, their 'greeting' was ruined when two of Roman's staff pull them over to a table.

"I need something from you."

Roman rolls his eyes, idly spinning his cane at his side.

"Of course you do. What is it this time? Money? Dust?"

Ironwood exhales slowly, showing his irritation at his attitude, but managing to restrain himself.

"A fleet destroyed Beacon and tore apart the Atlas ships stationed there. Who is it?"

Roman raises one eyebrow and smiles coyly.

"Oh, please. You expect me to sell out a client?"

James' calm exterior cracks slightly in the form of a temporary twitch of his eye, but he responds with a level tone despite that.

"Yes."

Okay, it wasn't very hard to say 'yes' on it's own, but that's still impressive at the level of stress and anger Ironwood is running at.

Roman taps his finger against the table a few times, a slight hum undercutting the otherwise intimidating motion.

"I'm a generous man, so I'll offer you a deal."

He pauses for effect.

"I'll tell you who did it and even fully support the war against them. In exchange..."

He appears to think it over, but it's clear that he's just being coy again, something that digs out a little more of the meager patience James at left.

"I want Penny."

"WHAT!?"

Roman sighs, rising from his seat.

"Someone fetch me a new table, would you?"

Just out of sight, someone scurries off to bring out another, this one with a less costly wood construction.

Roman turns back to the fuming Ironwood.

"Yes, I want Penny. Do we have a deal?"

James narrows his eyes, apparently done with this.

"N-."

"SIR! A report just came in!"

Releasing the longest and most exasperated sigh in the universe, Ironwood turns to face the soldier.

"Yes?"

Despite his tone, the soldier hands him the scroll with the recording on it.

* * *

 _"Begin bombardment."_

A chorus of explosions blow up from what looks like empty space, the rhythm matched perfectly, like the beat of drums, by much larger explosions in the distance.

 _"Engage the enemy."_

As if on cue, a airborne fleet numbering in the hundreds races over the disintegrated port to meet the incoming threat.

They weren't prepared.

At the press of a button, the ocean-bound armada uncloaks.

And then they fire.

 ** _BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_**

Within the skies, a fireworks show designed by a mad genius tears apart Atlas's advance fleet.

They return fire, of course, but the far heavier armor of the Gerrusan Military's ships resists everything but the greatest of explosions they have to offer.

Even then, interior chambers prevent water from overflowing while the space between the hull and any important systems prevents and significant electrical damage.

The fight, if you can even call it that, was over sooner than even Gerrusan had anticipated.

Yet, they weren't done. A town and a fleet down, Atlas would be sending more at them.

And they were going to sit and wait.

Just like that, the ocean appears to be empty.

* * *

It's fortunate that the staff hadn't returned with a table as Ironwood's fist hits only air.

Unable to properly contain himself, he turns to Roman and concedes through gritted teeth.

"Fine. Have it your way; just tear them a new one."

Roman smiles, ignoring Ironwoods clearly seething anger.

"Then I shall bid you farewell."

He swivels in place, turning for the exit.

Of course, he couldn't leave without a final word.

"Tell the good doctor I said hello, would you?"

You know the saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"?

They never mention the masculine parallel.

* * *

Vladimir closes his eyes, not even bothering to look at his guest.

"I must say, I expected you to take a few more minutes in finding me, Oz."

Despite his calm and collected approach, the effect of which follows into his voice, Ozpin completely ignores the statement while stepping further into the apartment room Vlad had been hiding out in.

"You're responsible for a ton of innocent deaths."

Vladimir turns around in his swivel chair, turning to face his accuser.

Not that he'd actually be listening, something that became evident from his broad smile.

"Innocent, perhaps, but why does that change anything? I need to remove the worlds armies to unite everyone under one banner. If you hadn't noticed, Vale was never attacked by me."

Ozpin narrows his eyes, not having any of it.

"And the people that died from the fear and panic your little stunt caused?"

That seems to actually bring him pause, but not for more than a second.

"Collateral damage. Sacrifices must be made, after all."

He chuckles to himself.

"And before you ask, the people in power get to decide who's sacrificed. That's just how life works."

Ozpin's eyes remain narrowed, but he doesn't posit another argument.

Instead, he swings his cane at the side of Vladimir's skull.

Reflexively, Vlad's hand comes up to block the blow.

It fails, the attack suddenly coming from the other side and throwing him from his chair.

"I might not be able to kill you, but I will make you suffer as much as everyone in Vale combined."

Vladimir brushes his cheek with the side of his hands as if to wipe away some invisible smudge or injury.

"Really now? And how are you going to manage that?"

Ozpin smiles.

"Oh, I think it'd be more fun to show you."

Ozpin's aura glows around him, wind buffeting out from his form in visible shockwaves. With the final moment he has eyes, Vladimir witnesses Ozpin's first cruel smile.

* * *

Draga exhales slowly, calming his nerves.

Meditation without a skill was still definitely possible, but it was hard, and it was even more so when you now had to breathe.

Oh, and you were terrified of supernatural monsters which could instakill you at any time.

 _Great job, brain._

Letting out a sigh, Draga lies back on the grass.

 _What am I doing here?_

While many have asked that question, he wasn't going for the philosophical answer. He wanted a purpose.

Something to do.

Simply put, humans sucked at being bored.

The problem was, he had nothing he could think to do. The military of Gerrusan was missing, something that, while interesting, wasn't really in his perview, the Grimm were either overpowered beyond human fightability or trivially weak, and Schwarz was still conspicuously absent.

Worse, still, was that the Marks of Kreasi apparently didn't work without actual magic, something he didn't have.

 _Ugh..._

Draga holds up an arm towards the sky, lazily looking through it at the slowly appearing stars before letting it fall at his side.

The universe was a dick.

 _ **Draga.**_

At the mention of his name, Draga shoots up into a sitting position, sparing a moment to look for a source. As expected, though, there wasn't one.

 _Figures._

 _ **I am going to take on the Gerrusan army. Goodbye, mate.**_

And then it hits him.

It was Schwarz's voice.

 _Oh hell no! You're not doing that by yourself!_

Draga's exclamations go without answer.

"Tsk."

Draga rises into a standing position, sparing a moment to orient himself on the map. Gerrusan was, according to Jaune, Southwest of Vale.

If he wanted to get stronger, then, he'd go to Atlas, a place directly West of Vale's port town.

 _Onwards and forward, I guess._

With one last glance at the camp, he joins cross country.

* * *

Fraser cries out suddenly at the pain of crashing his shoulder joint back in place against a nearby steel beam. The pain fades after a moment, but an internal ache lingers behind.

He had lost, and lost hard, to Asmodeas.

 _Fucking hell, guess I'm down to seven of ten._

Arachnae and Asmodeas were dead, so they wouldn't be coming back for a week or so, while Crom was just an uncatchable monstrosity that he'd rather not deal with at all.

Unfortunately, his true plan required all ten of the Grimm kings. Without them, Jaune would be able to defeat them whenever he wanted.

He didn't know that, apparently, but he could. It was a strategic certainty due to how Grimm pools worked.

 _Heh. We might still win at this point. It's not like Crom is gonna tolerate him controlling the Deatheaters. It's just a shame the original idea won't come to fruitition for some time._

Fraser snaps his neck once in each direction while approaching a mostly in-tact portion of the facilities walls. He didn't have the destructive power to blow through stone, but the open sky was plain to see above him.

All he had to do was rock-climb up nearly a kilometer with one uncooperative hand.

Peace of cake.

 **ROAR!**

Fraser closes his eyes and inhales once, turning to face an incoming mutant Beowulf, or Barghest.

The literal fire in it's eyes and the dripping acid from it's mouth didn't intimidate him. AUs were trained for this, after all.

A single shot from his magnum was all it took to put the beast down, but a question arose based on it's appearance.

How did it get down here?

 _I guess I'm going to explore for a bit._

* * *

Schwarz looks out from atop the graveyard church spire, searching for his own grave.

 _I'm home._

* * *

 **There you have it, the first Chaos chapter. I hope you don't mind the system of structured stories functioning on almost chronological order. I figured it would give it a little more flow then following Draga and having a series of exposition scenes or flashbacks.**

 **If you're wondering why Ozpin is talking like Vladimir is immortal, it's because he is. He can only hold up his semblance for 10 minutes and it makes him aggressive as all hell, but he can toggle it on and off at will, meaning he can stretch his invulnerability over basically any length of time so long as the instances of danger are short.**

 **This doesn't make him immune to force, by any means, but impacts only knock him back so long as it's active.**

 **Additionally, 1 minute recharges every 15 or so.**

 **Not a fun thing to fight, much like Crom.**

 **On a different note, I am officially declaring Draga the God King of Space because of reasons. This is 100% canon and truthful; every being ever will regard him as their lord.**

 **Yep.**

 **Totally.**

 **Okay, but I do have a serious thing to mention, and it's as follows: Consume is from Prototype. I won't elaborate further; you have to draw your own conclusions.**


	58. Chaos-2

_"Atlas forces incoming. Hold for engage."_

Gradually, the sounds of airships grow louder on their approach. Using the remaining skyscrapers as cover, they approach the visible fleet.

As visible from even this distance, the new airships were more heavily armed with weapons ranging from literal cannons to lasers- potentially a few dust cannons as well.

Unfortunately, they were under the impression Gerrusan maintained the seas, something they reinforced by uncloaking before their arrival.

The ships slow down, attempting to reach exactly their maximum range while maintaining their height to reduce theirs.

And then all hell broke loose.

 _"Fire!"_

Glass sprays down into the streets below as stationed IDL-803s, FDL-400s, and LDL-269s ambush the fleet with a hail of lightning, ice, and fire.

Unlike last time, they react quickly by shooting up and out of range, but much of the damage had already been done.

Out of a previous several hundred, only a few dozen ships remained in combat condition.

 _"Wraith awaiting launch orders."_

 _"Request received; head on out."_

 _"Sir."_

To the shock of many who witnessed it, the top of an aircraft carrier splits open to reveal a dragon.

And it heads off into the sky.

 _"Wraith inbound."_

 **ROAR!**

* * *

A battering on the door.

"Coming!"

Spur Branwen- as a lanyard around his neck describes him- sprints up the door, slamming it open with one arm the moment he could.

He freezes at the sight.

"Hello."

Spur blinks a few times, completely confused.

"Schwarz?"

The man in question smiles warmly.

"In the flesh."

Spur steps forward, pulling him up into a hug that would normally crush the spines of its victims, something Schwarz doesn't return nearly as enthusiastically.

"Welcome back, nephew. Did something happen during your mission?"

...

...

...

 _Nephew?_

"What did you say?"

Spur pauses, looking at him with a poised eyebrow.

"Your mission? Did something happen?"

 _Oh that's bullshit. If anything, I'm your uncle._

Schwarz steps out of the embrace, pulling himself up to his full height, something that was still slightly beneath the towering Branwen member.

"My name is Schwarz Himmel, senior. I was born just over a hundred years ago."

Spur snorts, leaning on the doorframe.

"Of course you are, sport."

A twitching eye was his only response.

"Schwarz, buddy, you don't look a day over twenty. There's no way you're gonna pass off as an Ancient."

The 'boy' in question's eyes narrow sharply, the twitching stopping instantly.

"And what proof could I provide of my nature, should it be true?"

Spur rolls his eyes, taking a moment to think it over.

"I guess you could show me your semblance. The ability to delete light probably isn't what he used."

Schwarz smiles.

"Follow me."

* * *

Ozpin lets out an exhausted sigh. Around an hour spent beating up someone who never reacted with anything but the occasional grunt was incredibly unsatisfying.

Even more so when you wanted them to die.

"You're just determined to ruin this for me, aren't you?"

Vladimir smirks up at him, something that receives an instant kick to the gut.

After coughing once or twice before his body realized it needed oxygen, Vlad faces Ozpin.

"Let's talk this out. I'm a reasonable man."

A snort.

"Hey! It's true! blowing up beacon was a strategic necessity, so I did it."

"And it was also suicide by Ozpin."

Another sudden laugh, but this one from Vlad.

"Please, like you can kill me."

Ozpin smiles, looking wistfully out a nearby window at the dead soldiers outside.

"True, I won't be able to kill you, but I can beat the tar out of you until you die naturally."

A raised eyebrow is brought with Vlad's verbal response.

"I think you're a little too old to be saying that, pops."

"Perhaps."

Ozpin sighs, crushing Vladimir's skull beneath his heel again.

"Then again, I could always drop you in a volcano somewhere, making sure to keep you in the lava the full ten minutes."

Vladimir gives him a blank look before scoffing at him.

"Please, like you could hold me under lava for ten minutes. Unlike me, lava would evaporate the water in your body from just proximity, killing you instantly."

Ozpin smirks, looking upwards in blatant amusement.

"Thanks for an idea, Vladimir. I'll be visiting again."

Without so much as an unsettling of dust, Ozpin vanishes from the room.

"Heh. You do that."

Vladimir pulls himself back into his desk chair, taking a break from the world from the moment.

Not that he had much choice with his computer smashed to pieces.

 _Another thing to replace, I guess,_ he thinks while looking out towards the graveyard that was the apartment building.

* * *

Fraser lets out a sigh while crushing yet another Barghest beneath his boot.

Despite being a universally stronger version of a Grimm, the Barghest wasn't much of a threat, even in numbers, to someone of his caliber.

 _And because I said that, I'm going to get attacked by something powerful in 3... 2... 1..._

Nothing.

 _Huh... Nevermind._

Without even waiting for his instincts to kick in, Fraser whirls around and drops a bullet directly into the eye of the incoming Deathshredder.

It reals back in pain, giving him enough time to investigate this particular specimen. Unlike Barghest or Skywraiths, all of which were basically identical at each stage of development, Deathshredders adapted to wherever they lived.

For this particular one, it had spent quite a lot of time dealing with metal and darkness, resulting in larger 'claws', more and better eyes, and quieter footsteps.

A threat should they sneak up on you, but natures law of irony dictated exactly when it would appear long before it did.

"Aye, your a feisty bugger."

His accent seems to offend the beast as it charges towards him with a complete disregard to stealth.

Knowing that it's two tails and four 'pincers' would all result in death should they hit, Fraser opts to sprinting in the other direction.

Giant walking tanks aren't known for their mobility.

 _I just have to avoid it's friends._

While it wasn't impossible for a Deathshredder to live by itself, similar to a Deathstalker, they would often group up in colonies.

It would make sense for them to start where they created, even if it wasn't where the first colony was made.

 _God, that was a tragedy. Shame they didn't evacuate when we said to._

Fraser ducks into another of the mazelike series of passages, some normal and others built by sheering through the walls of the facility. While it was kind of terrifying to see what the Grimm were able to do, he needed no reminder himself.

He'd been part of creating them, after all.

Though, and this was important to note, he'd been part of a different facility. This was Alpha, or the first one created, but he worked with Charlie for a few years while training as a member of the Assassin Unit, or AU.

Getting around this place was a lot harder, and passages being blocked off by cave ins or similar collapses certainly didn't help.

While quiet, the sound of the Deathshredder's spike like legs repeatedly digging into the metal floor was perfectly from that distance.

And it was always getting louder.

 _Man, I guess I don't get to explore without a fight._

He turns to face his opponent, his expression just as blank as the creature's own.

"Come at me, Shred."

* * *

Cinder stops at a cliffside overlooking Mistral. It was rare that she would disregard Salem's directions, but neither had foreseen what transpired a day prior.

A massacre was just the kind of thing that led her to a vacation.

With one last glance behind her, she starts the final lunge of her journey.

* * *

 **Jeez, I'm sorry about the length guys. It's still larger than the others, but not on par with the previous.**

 **Still looking for a cowriter for the SAO fic I am going to be working on, if any of you are interested.**

 **And that's all I got. Have a good day, y'all.**


	59. Chaos-3

The roar echoes throughout the remainder of the city, shattering what little glass remains in the dilapidated buildings.

And then it's vast wings beat once.

A surge of wind forces the ship it's on several feet further into the water, but also carries the creature up and into the air.

 **ROAR!**

The Gerrusan armada begins its retreat, confident in letting Fáfnir and it's rider carry out the remainder of the mission.

Why wouldn't they be? It's broad wings were bladed to the extend that they could slice through concrete and it's speed surpassed any combat oriented airship in the world.

The Atlas ships pull themselves into reverse, their various front mounted weaponry opening fire on the flying dragon.

Their attack was meaningless. Due to the relative thinness of it's form, the bullets almost all missed it completely, and it simply evaded the bursts of fire and ice.

Lightning attacks, of which the remaining fleet had only two cannons to produce, were effectively drained off by the Skin Effect, a phenomena that explains your safety in an airship during a thunder storm.

And then, within the span of a second, Fáfnir halved the enemy, both on the individual and group scales.

 **ROAR!**

Fire soon joins the roar, spewing out to cook those in exposed portions of the various vehicles.

Sure, it didn't take any of them out, but this was about intimidation more than anything. Having your opponent surrender was always more economical than murdering all of them.

Speaking of murdering all of them...

Fáfnir takes a while to turn around, giving ample time to the Atlas ships to separate into a shape besides lines.

 _Bothersome._

The rider takes control for the moment, making the dragon ascend rather than swoop back into the fray. It might be gargantuan, but tanking hits for free wasn't part of the game plan.

Preparing for a dive, the Atlas ships also start ascending, but they're a bit slower due to their relatively small size.

Shame, that.

A single press against Fáfnir's neck was all it took to make the creature dive, just as expected.

But it wasn't rushing in to slice them in half this time around, lord no.

Around a second before impact, which was actually a fairly large distance considering the absurd speeds the beast was traveling, it beats its wings once, easily pulling itself to a stop.

A clap of thunder was the only sound heard for a moment, easily shattering the ears of anyone stupid enough to be that close (with the exception of the rider, Yin, who was wearing ear protection sufficient that he was essentially deaf to begin with) and leaning the concrete towers away from it.

Then again, if it was strong enough to shove several hundred thousand tons of stone, it was more than capable of doing the same to combat oriented battle ships.

 _Bye-bye._

A shockwave plows through the remaining ranks, ripping hulls opens and knocking them out of the sky. With irreparable damage to their engines, they weren't pulling themselves out of their dives.

And like that, their own defensive strategy becomes their end.

* * *

Draga steps into Jaune's office, an act that is welcomed by the eyes of many, many Grimm.

 _What an impression..._

"Jaune?"

The man's desk chair swivels around, revealing him in the chair with a kind of approach normally seen only in movies.

But then it continues past the normal half turn, going for a full 540 before stopping himself with a leg.

"Yeah?"

He maintained his composure well, actually, but it was still somewhat strange for him to fail a cliche...

Anyway-.

"I need help."

He sets his elbows on the desk, resting his chin atop his stacked up hands.

"May I ask what you need help with?"

Draga pulls up a normal chair, placing it in front of the desk before taking a seat.

"The GMC is on the move, I'm left in the dark about the world, and everyone who's able to help me has gone off somewhere."

He looks off the side a bit somber.

"There was someone who could have helped, but he was devoured by Crom."

That seems to jolt Jaune, the movement ending just as soon as it began.

Speaking as clearly and flatly as possible, Jaune forwards a question.

"Crom?"

Draga turns back to face him, clearly confused by his reaction.

"You, the defacto leader of Gerrusan and master of Grimm, don't know about Crom Cruach?"

He scoffs at him, looking up in thought.

"I know about him, believe me I do, but that is unsettling news. I was under the impression he was asleep..."

"Are you okay, Jau-."

"STOP CALLING ME JAUNE! Oum, your accents are annoying as hell, and it's really not helping me think!"

...

...

...

"What?"

He rolls his eyes at that, leveling a stare upon him the annoyance levels of which has never before been witnessed by mankind.

"Oh for Oum's sake, my name is John, John Forrest."

Draga stops, his own blank stare diffusing Jau-Johns.

"You... He... Ugh, fuck you, reality."

Draga sighs, looking towards him with resignation.

"Alright, but I still need help. Jaune or John, you're still you."

He nods, looking up yet again in contemplation.

"I don't suppose you're willing to die, are you?"

* * *

Fáfnir slowly descends to the city streets, landing in a particularly large intersection and still being a bit crowded.

Unclasping the wires holding him onto it, Yin leaps off the mighty beasts back and onto the asphalt road. He had one job left to do: end any survivors.

Can't allow people to think they can escape if you want them shitting themselves in terror, now can you?

Yin walks casually in the middle of the street towards the huge variety of wreckages before him. While many ships exploded due to their use of fire dust, many more were simply burning or broken apart.

There was actually one curious ship which was half frozen, but half as in one side of it.

Yin shrugs. _Not my problem._

The sound of fire and falling metal were his only company as he examines each ship, searching for signs of life.

There were none, if you discredit the guy stuck inside the block of ice who probably died from his own blood piercing his arteries.

Terrible way to go.

 _"No sign of survivors, sir."_

There's a moment of static before he gets his reply.

 _"Yin... get the hell out of there..."_

 _"What?"_

 _"MOVE IT SOLDIER!"_

The ground starts rumbling beneath him.

 _Gotta love my job._

* * *

Schwarz stands over his grave with a Nevermore resting on his shoulder.

"The most painful goodbyes are the ones that are never said and never explained. Poetic."

He turns to face Spur, the rather tall black garbed individual who was still just watching the bird carefully.

"I take it that was your touch?"

...

...

...

"UNCLE SCHWARZ!"

Without a single visible frame between him standing and the second bone crushing hug that day, Schwarz is swept into the air by his... Nephew?

"Air."

It was a single word, and rather quiet due to having uncooperative lungs, but the message seems to get across as Spur sets him down rather readily.

"How are you back?"

Schwarz ignores the question, returning to the topic at hand.

"Where are Monody and Windfall? I'm going to need their help."

"Uh..."

Spur looks up as if searching through his mind for the answer.

"Last I checked they were at Beacon. Why?"

Schwarz pauses at that, actually having TWO reasons.

First was the more obvious one: Beacon was destroyed. He knew about that because he passed by. The Branwens, with the exception of Qrow and Raven, were actually pretty out of step with the world, so it made sense for Spur to be unaware of that.

Second was a far more subtle one that only impacted him.

His children were somehow young enough to go to Beacon.

Meaning they weren't his children.

"Remind me again, who were Monody and Windfall's parents?"

"Dunkelheit and Funsel Branwen. Jeez, you can't even... Oh, that's right. You died before Funsel was born."

Schwarz nods. The same was true of Monody and Windfall, after all.

Running a hand through his hair, Schwarz turns back to his grave.

 _God dammit... I at least know what Monody and Windfall were able to do, even if only Windfall had completed Huntsman training..._

He sighs, crouching before the somewhat offensive obituary.

"I don't suppose you could help me find them?"

Spur declines, both verbally and with a shake of his head.

"Sorry, mate. I got my own to look out for. If you have the time, maybe tell us a little about you. Only the late Nacht really knew you, and she didn't tell any stories."

He turns to leave, giving a casual 'good luck' before heading on his way.

 _I suppose that's for the best... He gets to dwell in blissful ignorance for a little while longer._

Schwarz stands up, he and his raven pet turning towards Beacon academy.

"Meanwhile I'm diving right into a can full of Wyrms."

He smiles at his little play on words, content for the briefest of moments.

 _Onwards and forwards, eh, Draga?_

* * *

 **Ah, more invasion related activities combined with a little bit of development on Jau-Johns side.**

 **Hey... You know what that means?**

 **It means Jaune was someone else.**

 **\\(*.*)/**

 **... | | ...**

 **.../..\\...**

 **Mind blown, I know.**

 **Co-writer** **-kun/chan!? You there!?**

 **NOTICE ME SENPAI!**

 **Have a good day, all of you. It's Wednesday, the third worst day of the week, so... Here's to not being Monday or Tuesday anymore.**

 **CHEERS!**


	60. Chaos-4

The ground travels in waves around him, visible contortions traveling through the asphalt and concrete.

As terrifying as that would be on it's own, he could hear the sound of a creature beneath the earth.

"Fáfnir! Get out of here!"

Yin's call does not go unheeded as the Dragon beats its wings and ascends into the sky.

Which just left him in the line of fire.

Preparing himself for a likely death, Yin turns to the ocean. It was around a hundred meters away from his current location, but fallen buildings, airship debris, and various unrecognizable flaming bits of rubble stand in his path.

That, and his opponent was probably a lot faster than him.

 _Don't think; do._

Forcing his legs to run on pure adrenaline, Yin sprints across the landscape, leaping over entire mounds of shattered metal in his way.

The sound of the ground wrenching apart behind him as metal, stone, and bone are compacted was more than enough motivation.

Yin reaches the edge, easily able to hear the Grimm worm what feels like inches behind him.

Without a second of hesitations, Yin continues running forward. His semblance, the ability to increase friction relative to himself, gives him just enough force to only just barely sink into the water an inch.

But, it was enough.

 **ROAR!**

The sky seems to turn black within a fraction of a second, the sea following suit an instant later.

And then, like the monster it was, the worm buried itself back into the ground beneath the sea.

* * *

Monody turns sharply to her left, instantly bringing the group to alert. By now, the survivors had introduced themselves along with their abilities.

It would be essential for what they planned to do.

So, when the person who controlled sound was surprised by something, you payed attention.

"Greetings, huntsman. My name is Schwarz."

All of them rise, their weapons already drawn for a fight. Walking around with a Nevermore, no matter how small, atop your shoulder wasn't exactly comforting.

Fortunately, Windfall is the first to speak.

"How did you survive?"

The question was incredulous, something that implied honesty. It also implied that Schwarz Himmel the Second died somehow. Given how Spur didn't make any visual distinctions, it was unlikely they did either.

Which gave Schwarz an easy out.

"Takes more than that to put me down, Wind."

He scoffs, an action less obviously mirrored by Monody's eye roll and an unrecognized character's suspicious glare.

"You managed to survive multiple impalements by large pieces of concrete and then the tower falling on top of you. That's what you expect us to believe? Seriously?"

 _Well, that plan suddenly got a lot worse off._

But not impossible.

"Do you know what my semblance is?"

Windfall glares at him, starting to get annoyed, but answers anyway.

"The manipulation of shadows."

Schwarz smiles.

"And have you ever seen me use it?"

Their silence indicates that they haven't.

"That's because it's not my semblance. If I recall correctly, that was my grandmothers."

Because it was, at least in his reality.

"For simplicity, just assume I won't die easily, alright? We have work to do, anyway. Who's with me?"

Nods all around, except...

"What about Denada?"

Schwarz turns to the individual, Neo Jade, if he was right. As he recalled, Neo was part of the Luna and Jade clans, one of the two mixed heirs. He was actually quite memorable because his particular brand of suffering was entirely self inflicted.

 **Entirely self inflicted.**

"I don't know."

He looks down sadly for a moment before looking up to clarify.

Well, it was clarifying for him. Neo was probably just accusing him.

"She was with you!"

Schwarz matches his expression, although it's difficult to fake sadness for someone you've never so much as heard of before.

"I don't know, Neo."

He looks up, his sadness mostly replaced with surprise. The reason becomes apparent when he speaks.

"Neo?"

 _Hit and miss. Ah well._

"Yeah."

"My name's Novus, mate."

 _For crying out loud universe, throw me a bone that doesn't require industrial equipment to actually use._

"They both mean new in their respective language, specifically in the sense of being young or reborn. It's close enough."

 _Damn... Language arts teachers were absolute monsters back in the day..._

Just think back to how much Greek and Latin you remember, assuming you took it back in the day as well.

"True... But why call me Neo now?"

 _Ugh..._

"Because I got sick of saying 'v'. It's actually rather hard to use it in the way you do as a native German speaker."

While not technically true that his children, and therefore his grandchildren, were German, he certainly spoke with a partial German accent.

Since Spur did as well, albeit to a lesser degree, it should stand for Schwarz to.

"All... Alright."

 _Thank-fucking-Oum._

"So, anything else before I tell you all my plan?"

Nobody brings one up, though it's important to note that they were all still standing at arms.

"Fabulous. You all obviously know that Beacon was destroyed and that _ was captured."

Tentative nods at the last part, but otherwise confirmation.

"I know who is responsible and can take you all there, but you need to listen to me from there."

Windfall interjects again, not even bothering to get his attention first.

"Schwarz... How do you know this group? You were raised alongside us and spent most of your time training or... Uh... Doing other, less reputable things."

"The magic of internet research and conspiracy theories."

Yep, he's already recovering his totally not shattered reputation.

* * *

 **I'm so sorry, guys. We got dunked on by a lightning storm and this was as far as I could write before everything died. I fixed the last 100 or so words to make it more conclusive as a 'chapter', but I have to focus on the next one...**

 **God damn, weather: trashing my dreams.**


	61. Chaos-5

Schwarz huddles behind a bush, the group slightly further back in the forest. Yang, Monody, Windfall, Nora, Ren, Novus, and Cardin held out behind various trees, their weapons all drawn and prepared for a fight.

Schwarz raises a hand, pausing a moment before motioning forward to signal an engage.

Completely silent, the group make their way from the overgrowth into the barren concrete of the military encampment. The nighttime darkness masks their approach, though spotlights gradually patrol the grounds from atop the tall stone walls.

They dash across the moment the light passes, reaching the wall and flattening themselves along it.

Another light inches past, revealing them if not for the battlement blocking line of sight to things directly against the wall.

The instant the damn-near blinding light is gone, Nora whirls around and slams her hammer directly into the barrier.

 _Alarms go off, signalling to the army that they were there._

Except, they didn't. The sound of Nora's hammer literally exploding the wall is simply redirected back into the wall, making the hole somewhat larger.

Nora and Monody share a nod before they sprint inside.

There wasn't a set time before they found the hole, but it was best that they get it done within five minutes, so they don't bother slowing down as they run through various corridors.

A pair of soldiers walk around the corner, completely unaware of the group.

Well, unaware for a second. After that second...

They got to learn how uncomfortable concrete floors were.

Throwing them into a nearby supply closet and stealing one of their uniforms, they continue forward unencumbered.

Their final target, a control room for the majority of the facilities functions, stands at the center of what looks like a cafeteria.

And this was the last place stealth was going to be important.

Schwarz, wearing the uniform of Private Garen, walks almost casually across the room to the entrance. Once there, he slides the man's keycard along the appropriate gap in the pad.

And it fails to open.

 _God dammit... This is gonna require clearance, isn't it?  
_

Schwarz gives a quick glance around, searching for someone who would have the correct authority, but then the blast doors part open.

"Sorry about that, Ga-."

The man standing at the other side of the door pauses, staring at Schwarz in confusion.

 _Game over._

Schwarz lunges forward, an arm lifting the man up by his neck and dragging him further into the room. Thanks to one-directional tinting and the automatically closing doors, nobody could see them.

The man attempts to free himself, but Schwarz was obviously stronger than he'd need for this. Two other people were watching from their chairs, but a single glance from the now glowing huntsman brings their hands into the air.

 _"I'm in."_

At those words, the rest of the group starts making their way out of the facility.

"So, what do we have here... Do you want to live?"

Two nods and a choking gasp answer him.

"Fabulous."

Schwarz drops whoever it was that came to the door, the man slumping to the floor while forcing air back into his lungs.

"I'm going to offer you a chance. If you disable the power to the facility, I will personally escort you out of the building."

The ones still seated look at one another before returning their attention to Schwarz.

"Just... Disable the power?"

Schwarz nods.

"O-Okay..."

One of them whirls their chairs around, reaching forward to press a few buttons.

And then he's on the floor before he so much as touches the console.

"I know what alarms are, genius."

Schwarz raises his foot up, slamming it back down on the mans wrist, shattering the bones with a satisfying crunch.

Well, satisfying to some. Most people would probably think gruesome, particularly the man who was experiencing shards of bone digging into his already damaged flesh.

It sucked, but fear was basically all Schwarz had at the moment. He might know what buttons were alarms, but he understood basically nothing else here.

"So, anyone else need to start an insurance scam?"

No answer.

"Splendid. Now, cut the power or die."

Within seconds, the lights across the facility are out at the hands of Lieutenant Leonard, the only one Schwarz hadn't attacked yet.

Darkness throws the entire facility into panic, and one filled with more than human screams.

"What happened to the backup systems? We can't disable those from here!"

Schwarz answers his panic only with a knowing smile.

"So, who's coming with me?"

* * *

Mutant Grimm, now free from their electronic bindings, throw apart the doors holding them within their rooms and race down the corridors towards the fearful soldiers.

No amount of combat drills prepares a man for fire-breathing acid-mouthed wolves running you down in complete darkness.

Actual combat, though, could certainly help. Schwarz drags the trio through several corridors, making their way towards the outside.

The soldiers ignore him, rushing past to get at the Grimm. Even with their newly equipped goggles, it was impossible to prove he wasn't just a normal man escorting them out normally.

The uniform probably helped.

"Move it!"

His call is well heeded, the three picking their pace up and sprinting out the final exit.

The grounds were a complete hellscape.

Fire licked at the concrete, devouring both man and Grimm alike as it roared around the complex. Matching the flames in ferocity was a veritable army of Barghest led by the uncreatively named Commandos.

Then again, there weren't a lot of legendary bears.

While the Grimm were led by their massive brethren, the human front was filled only with bullets whizzing by and chipping away at their targets' thick hides.

It was a one sided battle, that much was certain, but the soldiers had all the ground in the world to back up.

Which kind of reversed the situation.

 _Damn... I wanted to make them seem like more of a threat..._

And then an idea comes to mind.

The compound was essentially a giant square with tall walls and 2 gates to exit.

Their limitless ground to backup into came from the round nature of the construction and their ability to escape out of it if the need arose.

But he could control the earth.

 _Let's make this a little more interesting._

The boundaries of the gates mold themselves to the structures, preventing them from opening in the future.

That wasn't all, either. They couldn't see it yet, but a new entrance had opened up, one giving the Grimm still inside to come out and flank them.

Havoc ensued.

* * *

Schwarz leans back against the tree, content to be strapped to a branch. Mutant Grimm hunted almost continuously, so it was safer to be out of sight and reach in your sleep.

Fortunately, while rope wasn't something they had, they had enough collective gauze to use that instead.

It was probably better, too, since it would break if they tried to escape.

 _Into oblivion._

His eyes close mere moments before his consciousness fades away.

* * *

Schwarz makes his way through the forest easily, not even bothering to use the map from this distance. After all, the White Tiger would surely move.

He knew the pine trees told of where he was, and that was all that mattered.

Stepping over another small hill, a cave dwelling enters his vision. It was the third he'd come across, but it was worthwhile to check them all.

Every single thing you can learn might help you track your target.

He steps into the black, relying on his sense of smell to direct him towards anything of interest while throwing small pebbles to avoid the walls.

Of course, the lack of light prevented him from dodging the jagged stones littering the otherwise soft floor, but his well-callused feet remained in tact as he trudged onward.

After what felt like an eternity- though it was only actually a minute or so- of blackness and the smell of damp stone, the smell of dandruff invades his sinuses.

It was unpleasant, that was certain, but it might also be from the White Tiger...

So, he follows the scent, still careful to avoid slamming into anything particularly dangerous.

His nose leads him only slightly further into the cave, directly to the source, but it was covered...

 _Strange,_ he thought. _Animals don't normally cover fur..._

He reaches for it, finding a coarse cloth.

It was a blanket, much like the one he had atop his bed even now.

It was human.

 _Run,_ he mentally ordered himself while standing up.

Schwarz wasn't nearly fast enough.

"What are you doing here?" a voice asks from a place much closer to the entrance than Schwarz was.

Sheepishly, Schwarz steps forward, only to realize that whoever it was clearly couldn't seem him anyway.

"I was searching this cave for an animal," he yells back, purposefully leaving out the kind.

"Ah, yes... The White Tiger, I presume," the voice says, somehow generating a smug appearance with nothing but his tone.

 _How would he-._

"How would I know, you're probably wondering," he states, his form coming alight with a white glow. "I'm the only animal here."

There, standing less than twenty feet from Schwarz, was a White Tiger pan. His smirking mouth showed off brilliant white fangs, fur ran all the way from his back to his tail- though it avoided his face and chest- and his eyes were an unnatural shade of yellow only befitting a holy creature.

And yet he was a pan, and, if you ignored the white glow- something that was probably just magic- he wasn't particularly odd either.

True, being a White Tiger pan was unbelievably rare, but...

 _Well, it's still my assignment to protect him..._ he acknowledges with a frown.

"My village tasked me with protecting the 'White Tiger', and they never assigned an ending, so... Am I supposed to just live with you?"

"Welcome to Nacah's domain, Barat," he says, giving a sweeping gesture to the cave around him.

"Barat?" Schwarz asks in obvious bewilderment.

'Nacah' slumps slightly, looking at him in slight annoyance. "It translates to West, referencing where it appears you came from," he says with a touch of annoyance in his tone.

Schwarz steps forward, offering a bow to Nacah. "Call me Schwarz."

"Alright, Schwarz," Nacah says, placing a hand atop his guests head. "Since you're here, I have some things to show you."

A white light spreads from his palm, reaching across Schwarz's body in a somewhat dimmer glow.

"Let's get started."

* * *

Schwarz shoots up suddenly, the force enough to snap his bindings.

Without proper support, he tumbles painfully into the ground quite far below.

Pain didn't signify damage, though, and he lies there, apparently unharmed.

Unlike his still lethargic body, his mind was racing through questions, theories, and a ton more.

One question stood above the rest: w _hat the hell was that?_

* * *

 **Schwarz Himmel, the original version, was not of this world. Ho-no.**

 **You can find what pieces I have published on Inkitt (more shameless self-promotion).**

 **It's written in the format you see above, and that's actually just chapter six, so...**

 **Spoilers? I don't think it spoils anything...**

 **Anyway, if you're wondering why an entire chapter was dedicated to him, then you're shit out of luck. Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z.**


	62. Chaos-6

**So, I noticed that Chaos-5 has 3 views and Chaos-4 has 0. Might want to read the other chapter, whoever that was.**

 **Also, I've apparently been spelling 'Tzeentch' wrong the entire time (cutting out the second 't'), so I'll be going back to change that.**

 **With that out of the way, here you are.**

* * *

"Whatever you're planning, I'd really appreciate an explanation."

"Sucks to be you, then."

John smirks, teasing Draga by playing with a nearby lever.

"Oh come on, man. Give me a break, would yah?"

Draga doesn't struggle against his bindings, but that's only because they were actually just Ursa holding his arms in place. While he could probably beat one in an arm wrestle, leverage wasn't on his side here.

That, and he had no idea what John actually had planned. Being held onto a steel table in an otherwise barren white room was definitely intimidating, but he had to have faith.

Actually, faith was for suckers, but he lost his choice when he came to see John to begin with.

"You know, I think you're right."

John pulls his hand away from the lever, his expression turning to what you'd expect of a teacher.

And then, within the span of a second, John had smashed the lever downward.

The ceiling panel directly above Draga pulls upwards before moving to the side, revealing black.

Just black.

All seemed fine until it started falling.

* * *

Fraser throws himself to the side.

"It'll take a little more than that to get me."

The Deathshredder, a Grimm which- a moment prior- narrowly missed Fraser's skull with both of it's tails, growls in irritation, though it's incredibly skewed vocal cords make it sound more like a whine.

Not that it wasn't intimidating, though.

Well, to anyone else.

"Ah, come on pal, charge me again."

To his surprise, the Grimm doesn't, instead just watching him carefully.

 _Strange... I was told these things weren't intelligent._

That was what he'd witnessed, too. Hell, just a few minutes ago he'd gotten one to slam itself into a steel wall hard enough to shatter it's own armor plates.

And the wall, but neither really cared.

This calm caution, not hesitation out of fear or preparation, actually scared him.

Giant monsters he could handle. He'd been trained for it, after all. Humans too, though that was easier since they were usually just as stupid in regards to combat, albeit in a different way.

This thing seemed to, at the bare minimum, learn faster than any mutant on record.

"I guess we gotta do this the hard way."

Fraser comes alight with a white glow, one that encompassed him like a brilliant pale blaze.

Without any delay, he sprung forward with his knife hand outstretched and aimed for a gap in it's exoskeleton.

Just as quickly, though, he was suddenly not moving forward anymore.

 _Huh?_

He looks down slowly, suddenly realizing he was impaled.

The tail in question withdraws, Fraser's eyes trailing after it into a hitherto unseen hole in the ground.

 _Universe... You suck..._

* * *

 _Universe, you suck._

Inky blackness was all that awaited him the moment what he could only assume was liquid Grimm-essence spilled onto him.

He didn't feel the liquid, the pressure from the Ursae, or anything. The only feeling was... Well, nothing.

Where do you even go from there?

 **"You know, I never thought my job would be made this easy."**

Draga blinks, something he can perceive despite his inability to see.

"Hello?"

His voice holds no echo, something that was typical of the similar planes he'd visited before, but he somehow knew the entity heard him.

Probably, it was because he replied.

 **"Oh, come now. Surely my voice isn't that different."**

Prompted by his statement, Draga sorts through the demonic voices he's heard in the past, searching for a match.

Surprisingly, he hits multiple all at once.

 _Tzeentch._

 **"There're the whirling gears; I knew you could do it."**

Unamused, Draga frowns into oblivion.

"What do you want?"

 **"Whoa, sensing some hostility over here. You don't want to be nicer to your old pops?"**

The world fades in around them revealing the immense, gray, and mostly humanoid form of Tzeench floating in a meditative state above a mesa of some kind. Draga was, in turn, apparently held aloft just above a bottomless pit.

Charming.

After a moment adjusting to reality suddenly being a thing again, Tzeentch's words click within Draga's mind.

And then he freezes.

"You... You're my grandfather?"

Tzeentch looks at him plainly, his eyes completely void of emotion.

 **"Honestly-."**

He draws out the word, teasing Draga with it.

 **"Nope."**

Now, I could be tactful and describe an intricate network of emotions at play here, but I have uncovered a sentence that covers it perfectly.

'There is no middle finger big enough.' ~Yahtzee Croshaw

"So... Why are you here, then?"

His deadpan doesn't seem to convey his annoyance well enough, probably because he was basically being held hostage over a infinite fall, because Tzeentch continues to just fuck with him.

 **"Oh, just hanging out, you know... Like you."**

He cackles wildly at that, his midair form quivering as the sound floods the area.

After quite some time, Tzeentch finally stops laughing at his own... Joke? Does it even count?

He seemed to think it did.

 **"Fine, fine. Welcome to the Warp."**

Draga just kind of stares at him, completely unimpressed.

 **"Well, part of it. Because of my brethren, most if would be... Quite unpleasant to be within, to say the least."**

Tzeentch turns to the side, appearing to view a world beyond their own before turning back to Draga with a shrug.

 **"Anyway, I suppose you want me to explain what's going on. Since that's what I'm tasked with doing, I suppose I will."**

He clears his throat, although, being a Chaos God, he didn't really need to.

* * *

 **Hahaha, you thought I wasn't gonna put in a cliffhanger, didn't you?**

 **NOPE!**

 **MUAHAHAHAHA!**

 **Continue with your day.**

* * *

Tyrian lets out a sigh.

"Where is this damn guy..."

Wandering around for a day trying to find a trail-less person was boring enough, but this is Tyrian we're talking about. He was impatient enough to kill by the time the first person asserted- rather strongly, I might add- that he had absolutely no idea where Vladimir was.

Shame his neck was no longer connecting his head to his body.

 _Come out, come out wherever you are._

Unfortunately, no prey was forthcoming.

 _Vladimir... I'll get you..._

Unbeknownst to Tyrian, Vladimir walked right by him while wearing something besides his military uniform. Might want to invest in glasses, my friend.

* * *

 **In my efforts to create a more balanced game for Draga's future, I've been trying to research what not to do.**

 **And then I found a gold mine.**

 **Quan-Zhi-Gao-Shou.**

 **It displays literally every horrible quality I can think of for an MMORPG, and then some, and it's in a conveniently animated form. Don't want to pay to laugh at it? Watch on Kissanime~! #NotSponsored #PleaseSponsor**

 **Best part is, the dumpster fire of a show actually got published. I'm getting a what-not-to-do on both games and writing in one while getting a view on what publishers are looking for.**

 **YAY!**

 **In all seriousness, I think it's a perfect anime for a small group of people to gather and just hate all over it. If you're into that kind of thing, give it a view.**

 **Still looking for SAO-Co-Writer-kun/chan...**

 **And with that, I bid you adeu.**


	63. Chaos-7

**"I'll start at the beginning. Schwarz explained that the Primordials created the omniverse and incorporated themselves into it. Each Primordial had something they 'ruled' over, essentially making them gods. I am one of them, though a very high tier one. Given infinite Primordials, there were a lot of basically useless ones, like the god of baking apple pies inside pools of molten glass. It gets really specific, now that I think about it..."**

He rambles on for a moment, his mumbling becoming completely incoherent to the already lost Draga. How could an infinite set fit within a finite amount of concepts.

A fraction of a sentence catches his ear, indirectly answering his question.

 **"... and then there's the god of AaodmAnfodmsaodsognaogoaf, the word, not the place..."**

 _So... They abuse language?_

That certainly seemed to be the case.

Draga sits- or floats, rather- in wait of Tzeentch's continuation.

It takes a god damn long time, too, but that didn't really seem to be an issue. Draga was practically immortal, age-wise, while Tzeentch was literally the god of time.

Not a lot to lose, there.

 **"Anyway, across all the iterations of you I've come across in my infinite life, you're the only one with a Primordial, and it's one similar to my own, too. While I represent sorcery, knowledge, thought, mutation, and change, all collecting into my status as the god of time, you directly hold the Primordial of time."**

He pauses for dramatic effect, but the words themselves are really the only thing that phase Draga. Then again, he'd probably just roll with anything. Everything changed around him, ranging from his environment and people to his own sense of morality, so this wasn't really anything out of this world.

Well, technically it was, but you should understand what I mean.

"And that means... What? That I'm a god? Last I checked, I could die, and have done so several times. On top of that, where are my time powers? If I'm a god of time, I should definitely have those."

Tzeentch holds up a four fingered hand, the gray, wrinkled surface of which actually had a stop sign attached to it.

Or at least it appeared that way before it faded away.

 **"While you are a reincarnated Primordial, they don't all have powers. Other beings, such as the one that actually created you, can suppress the abilities directly. That, and being a god is actually rather boring for most. A lot of Primordials come to reality to experience mortality."**

"So... Who created me?"

Tzeentch grins broadly.

 **"Technically, me."**

* * *

Completely bewildered and simultaneously content, John leaves the two Ursae to attend to the now empty table.

Draga might be back, but what was the point of an experiment if not to test wild ideas?

He shouldn't be dead. Several workers had disappeared for a few days after falling in vats of the stuff, after all.

The problem was that one of them hadn't...

 _Live and learn._

John takes a turn around a nearby corner, stopping suddenly as a presence enters his senses.

There were very few people that could sneak up on him, especially with the effective warning system the Grimm provided, so he had more than a few ideas. One of them was confirmed when he turned to face Ozpin.

"Hello."

The greeting was given off casually by Oz, but his unkempt hair and ruffled clothing spoke of very recent exertion.

That was actually quite unsettling.

"Hello. I assume you need something?"

"Yes."

Ozpin adjusts his glasses, centering them against the bridge of his nose.

"Simply put, I'm in need of a weapon. Even though I'd never heard of you prior to your takeover, you're apparently both strong and well equipped to break directly through all of Vladimir's defenses."

He let's out a sigh, shaking his head with a hand against his forehead.

"It sucks to say it, but I'm simply not equipped to defeat him. I came for your help killing Vlad, whether that be personal or just in some kind of tool."

John smiles.

"Alright, Oz. Follow me."

John turns on his heel, silently commanding the Grimm stalking towards the area to retreat back to where they were.

It wouldn't do to agitate a guest.

* * *

"You're fucking with me again, aren't you?"

Tzeentch moves his hands up and down in the pantomime of a balancing scale.

 **"Eh-h-h... Yes and no. While I did not directly create you, I was ultimately responsible for this iteration of you. Well, if you exclude the omniverse thing."**

Draga raises his eyebrow at that, visibly suspicious.

"And what could you possibly gain from my existence?"

Tzeentch smirks.

 **"Oh... Nothing."**

It doesn't even sound like Tzeentch believed his own words.

The Chaos God snaps his fingers, instantly conjuring a stained glass construct in the shape of the eye of providence.

"What's that for?"

Tzeentch shushes him, apparently unaware that Draga already knew nobody would be telling him anything.

Even the explanation of his own existence had told him basically nothing besides the existence of a Primordial within him.

 **"Just wait."**

After a moment, the eye shaped piece starts moving, visibly surveying the room it was placed within.

 **"Whoa, you actually got him here? How'd you manage that, big guy?"**

The glass shape rotates around it's vertical axis, the other side apparently...

Well, it had a really tall top hat, wore a bow tie, and looked more like a 2-D pyramid than a triangle.

Oh, and it had an actual eye rather than a eye shaped white put within the otherwise yellow construct.

 **"He came himself, sort of. I had to redirect him a bit, but he was trying to come here through meditation a while ago anyway."**

The being frowns- with its eye, rather than some nonexistent mouth- apparently upset by that.

Not for long, though, as he seems to teleport in front of Draga with a relatively kind eye-smile.

 **"Nice to meet you kid; the name's Conta Cifra, and I'm a dream demon."**

Tzeentch glares at him, apparently frustrated with something.

 **"Are you still running around with that stupid nickname of yours, Bill? It's getting old."**

Conta, or Bill, turns to face him, his backside basically just a blank version of his front.

 **"It's a code, genius. That's my thing. The only way to figure out who I was required knowing the name Bill Cipher and translating it into Portuguese. As a god of thought, you should really get where I'm coming from here."**

Tzeentch rolls his eyes, unamused by his antics.

 **"I won the bet."**

Cipher sighs.

 **"I figured as much from his presence. The problem is, my plan has already reached fruition."**

Tzeentch smirks, looking down at the relatively puny form of the dream demon.

 **"Within your timeline, perhaps, but you never specified. According to the Warp, you're plans will take another infinity years to finish."**

Narrowing his eye to the point where only a fiery pupil faced Tzeentch, Bill snaps his fingers.

 **"You made a deal with me. There's no going back on that."**

At this point, Draga was just looking between the two in absolute silence. There wasn't really anything he could contribute, even if he wanted to, and the politics of infinite beings was evidently a lot more complicated than he would have assumed.

Infinite realities, infinite beings to fill them. Just find a dimension that doesn't have you in it yet.

 **"Indeed, I made that deal, but lack of specificity doesn't mean you can change the deal now. As the higher being, and the one that controls change, no."**

Grinding imaginary teeth, Bill points a finger in Draga's direction.

 **"Say it again and I toast the kid, ending the deal permanently."**

Tzeentch's smile grows even wider, reaching towards the edges of his face.

 **"'You made a deal with me. There's no going back on that.'"**

Without a moments hesitation, a cone shoots forth from Ciphers hand, reaching Draga's position in a fraction of a second and leaving it void of anything, even the cosmic stone Tzeentch has seen fit to create as a background for the meeting.

 **"That wasn't very nice."**

Bill's eye twitches, but he doesn't say anything.

 **"Now... What to do... I know; why not spread across the omniverse to gain infinitely more power and vitality?"**

Bill only stares at him.

 **"Onward, snuffles!"**

 _ **This guy...**_

* * *

 **Ey-y-y...**

 **That was probably disappointing, wasn't it? It's hard to live up to imagination, especially when, due to story structure, you need to hide information anyway.**

 **Then again... Yeah, I got nothing.**

 **Anyway, I have things to do, another story to write, and a losing streak to escape from. I hope you all have a magical day, though, one with less time and death shenanigans than my story. That probably would not be safe.**


	64. Chaos-8

Schwarz crushes the head of a Barghest beneath his foot, easily ending the unfortunate creature's life.

"That's eight."

Ignoring the corpse, Schwarz looks past him at the already trashed facility beyond.

Over the course of the last two days, Gerrusan had been taking heavy hits. With the majority of the military missing- as suspicious as that was- there was little they could do. Working with the mutant Grimm, albeit by simply having the same goals: destroying the bases and freeing the Grimm, resistance was very rapidly becoming futile.

Skywraiths roamed the skies, prepared to drop Commandos or Deathshredders upon unsuspecting victims.

It was the most terrifying beauty Schwarz had ever seen.

Any death machine with free-will will inevitably realize that their superiors are a bunch of hypocritical morons eventually, but these things didn't even need that kind of motivation. Give them a goal- indirectly, of course- and away they go.

Unfortunately, they didn't respect the group for their sacrifice.

Another howl resounds throughout the area, summoning more of the damn wolven Grimm. Barghest may be easy to kill, but they were equally deadly. Acid and fire were not to be trifled with, especially in the jaws of a superior Beowulf.

The howler's call is cut short by a fist piercing through it's vocal cords.

"We gotta get out of here. They're just gonna call more."

Novus wrenches his hand out of the Barghest, eager to leave. As fun as this was, risking death wasn't really his plan.

A series of nods return to his sentiment, the only exception being that of Schwarz.

"Night, you alright?"

Completely missing the reference to his name, Schwarz doesn't even hear Novus as he bats aside a flurry of strikes at a Barghest's paws.

"Schwarz!"

The man in question thrusts a hand forward, easily impaling the beasts throat with his own claws before kicking it away, effectively dodging it's last attempted attack. Turning on a dime, Schwarz faces Novus.

"Yes?"

"We're leaving."

Schwarz frowns at him, visibly disliking that idea.

"What about the one just North of here?"

Novus gestures to the havoc being wreaked upon the fortress behind him.

"The Grimm can handle it just like over there. We, on the other hand, should leave."

Schwarz nods, finally, apparently distracted by something.

"Alright."

Without another word, the group breaks away from the conflict and sprints as far South as they could manage.

* * *

Vladimir doesn't even open his eyes before greeting his new guest.

"Oz."

Ozpin stood above Vlad's bed, just sort of watching him. It wasn't the calculating gaze he normally gave off in these confrontations, but rather one that seemed to be trying to memorize him.

"Find a way to kill me, did yah?"

It was a guess, but why else would Ozpin bother to show up?

Ozpin leans forward, both hands resting on his cane.

"Oh, I found a little more than that."

Vladimir peaks with one eye, one that failed to see him carrying anything even worth considering as a threat. Where were the death beams? The horrifying monsters.

The warehouse he was holed up in didn't really have any kind of security system; why bother when your only tenant is fucking immortal? But that left a question... If Ozpin had something to kill him, where was it?

"If you're really this upset over your school, I might just rebuild it for you- under the Gerrusan flag, of course."

His offer didn't appeal to the former headmaster, something that his blank stare makes readily apparent.

"Look, Oz... I don't know what you want, but you're never getting it if you say nothing. I want to unify the world under one banner; why can't your plans work with that?"

Ozpin remains silent, but his gaze shifts slightly to the left- the reason unknown.

After a moment spent waiting, Vladimir prompts him again.

"Oz?"

And he gets a response.

"A unified world is what brought everything you hate, everything your despise, to us in the first place."

His venomous tone gradually rises into a yell over the course of that, his attention fixed on Vlad once more.

"Do you know how much suffering unity has caused?! Do you?! Being divided into four groups is the absolute MINIMUM for this world to exist, purely based on the principals it exists within!"

Ozpin throws his arms up, as if casting aside his own argument.

"But no-o-o, Gerrusan knows better than everyone else! 'Let's put everyone on one banner so we can repeat FUCKING METATRON!' Oum, you guys are idiots."

Starting to pace now, Ozpin gestures directly at him.

"And you have the worst way of going about it, too. Blowing everything to bits- including MY friends, MY colleagues, and MY students- just to make it SLIGHTLY easier to defeat Atlas."

He pauses for a moment, leveling his anger directly on him with an intensity Vladimir had never encountered before.

"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"

At this point, Ozpin stops his rant, but his focused expression demands an answer from him.

All Vladimir can return is a few blinks.

The anger draining from his expression, Ozpin plops down on a nearby chair with a sigh.

"If you were smart enough to just TALK, we probably could have worked something out, but the only way the Gerrusan army is gonna stop is with an example. You are going to be that example."

At this point, the puzzle slides into place within Vladimir's mind.

An example of Metatron's wrath.

Him.

"No."

Ozpin stares at him from the corner of his eye, his hand loosely gripping the lever on his cane.

"I didn't give you a choice."

A moment later, they were both suddenly missing, a slight breeze the only evidence either had been there at all.

* * *

Ironwood sits once more on the opposite side of a table from Roman, the both of them inside the ship Roman identified as a White Whale replica.

The original had been destroyed before either could witness its glory by an unfortunate Leviathan incident, but a zeppelin of equal size was soon constructed within Atlas to compensate. The only difference that Ironwood could actually identify was a giant candle-shaped logo on the side.

"So... We will be needing a lot more assistance than we thought. We will repay you, of course, but only after the war."

Seemingly bored, Roman taps his fingers a few times on the table.

"And you think that they wouldn't pay us not to?"

Ironwood narrows his eyes, but manages to withhold his anger.

"Are you saying you're planning to work with the enemy, Torchwick?"

The question was pointed, but Roman doesn't so much as hesitate at the unspoken threat.

"I'm only stating that I could be should you fail to endear your plans to us. As it stands, we don't really stand to gain anything working with you."

James' left eye twitches once at him, silent anger visible in the subconscious movement.

"You're claiming that a fair deal, as generated by your previous agreements, isn't already enough to bring you to our side?"

"Precisely."

Ironwood clicks his tongue a few times, his inhale creating a hiss like sound.

"Roman... You do realize the consequences of even declaring such a thing, surely."

A simple nod in return.

"Then you're willing to risk death for a chance to gain even more wealth?"

Instead of the confirmation he expected, Roman tilts his head and visibly seems to ponder the question.

"I don't see any risk of death."

Or... Not.

James inhales deeply, the air being released as possibly the longest sigh on the planet.

"And why is that?"

Roman smiles, turning back to face Ironwood.

"Have you ever heard of a whaleshark?"

* * *

Death has always been a mystery. People have believed in afterlives since the first person understood what not being alive actually meant, and having an actual soul definitely led credence to that.

The realm of death was certainly a lot less interesting than people made it out to be. No eternal happiness, no eternal suffering; just more existence.

Draga arrived within the realm, completely alone. No one was in sight, yet sounds of activity rang out around him as if he stood within a bustling city.

Yet he was just atop a hill in a large meadow.

 **"How unfortunate."**

Turning around suddenly, Draga comes face to face with someone he'd long forgotten about.

Mewujudkan.

"So you are Death, then?"

The titanic demon snorts, the sound blasting forth with the force of a locomotive.

Fortunately, dead being don't feel pain.

 **"No, no... I'm a Death, not the Death, for there is none."**

Wiping imaginary sweat from his brow, Mewu lets out a relieved sigh.

 **"Whew... Anyway, I came to talk to you about something."**

Draga, obviously curious, just cranes his neck backwards to meet his gaze.

 **"It has to do with the Warp."**

* * *

 **Let's see, I think I cut it down to... four plot-lines? Fraser, Schwarz, Vladimir, and the Invasion. Whew.**

 **Time to actually mix them all.**

 **Thanks, all of you, for finishing Draga's misadventures as The Fifth Gamer. I thought I'd give him an epilogue of some kind before saying this, so I didn't address it last chapter, but...**

 **He won't be back in Fickle Things for a good god damn long time.**

 **On the other hand, The Souls Of All is gonna actually get written now, rather than started and given up on. Containing an entirely original universe and character set (Although some OCs from FT do make an appearance, making it not entirely different from this), I think it'll be a bit more fun to write.**

 **If any of you want to join me in writing that, or the SAO fic that I'm STILL looking for a co-writer for, that'd be great.**

 **Otherwise, have a good day, all of you.**


	65. Violence-1 (Unchanged)

p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""A whaleshark?" Ironwood repeats in answer./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Precisely," Roman remarks, standing from the long table with a broad smirk. "This ship- the White Whale- was the largest and most powerful made in the world."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"He turns away from James, pausing to say one last word before leaving./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Was."/p  
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Schwarz looks up as Novus lands silently beside him./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""No signs?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Novus nods./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Perfect," Schwarz says, returning his focus to the rest of the group./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""One major stronghold is left before we siege the capital of Gerrusan itself- The Krag."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Despite his expectations, there was no murmur among the crowd./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"After all, they had no idea what he was talking about./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emI keep forgetting that only I actually know this place./em/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Right..." he drawls, staring into the campfire with a calm apprehension. "The Krag is one of the most fortified military bases the Gerrusan army has to offer, but not because it's that heavily guarded. Instead, the natural terrain and the nest of Deathshredders that live below it form its defense."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Picking up a stick, Schwarz draws a neat diagram outlaying the exterior of the complex./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""With a ravine forming a complete circle around the slightly elevated plateau and powerful Grimm filling the gap, passage requires access to the air or the use of the gondola. While I could pass as military, I wouldn't be able to get you across without blowing my own cover, so we're probably going to use Nim to drop into the area at night."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Everyone nods their consent, allowing him to continue./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Once inside, we'll need to make our way into the central chamber. From there, we're gonna need you- Monody- to help me blast the ground with a high pitched cacophony."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Monody raises her hand sheepishly, to which Schwarz nods./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Well," she began, "wouldn't that anger the Deathshredders?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh, assuredly," Schwarz agrees, "but that's the point. Essentially, we want them to dig up and destroy the fortress for us. Not only would it destroy their nearest outpost, but it would completely quell their ability to move out in this direction. It's almost impossible to move by anything but air over those things."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Meeting the gaze of each huntsman, he asks the critical question./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Are any of you afraid to die?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Monody, Novus, and Cardin all raise their hands, Ren started to, but let it fell when Nora didn't, and the rest simply smiled at him./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Good," Schwarz says, smiling. "Your fear is justified, and it will keep you alive. For the rest of you- Yang, Nora, Ren, and Windfall- we're going to lead the Deathshredders towards Providence once their work is done."/p  
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"em"Something is coming, but it's not recognized by our database. Do not engage without a visual."/em/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The Atlas radio goes silent in a vain attempt to hide their presence./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"And then, as if some kind of cosmic switch was pulled by a violent deity, the channels are flooded with the sounds of explosions./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"em"RETALIATE!" /emStilt orders through the cacophony. While he didn't have exact details, he had an idea what happened./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"After all, he couldn't be the only one who saw the flying city of guns appear out of thin air./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Of course, his words went unheeded as the encampment erupted in flame./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"That happened to include his command center./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Radio silence returned./p  
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Ironwood, now back in his command ship, slumped back into his chair./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Negotiations had failed and his greatest ally had now become his enemy. What did Roman expect? That he'd give up their greatest military project?/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"No... Given a little more time, Penny would become their perfect weapon. For now, though, her existence was an issue./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The council was acting up too, and he would lose the support of the city if he went against them. Sure, the military could fight without them, but it wouldn't survive against Gerrusan./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"So he was left to reassemble a splintered nation from the most vulnerable position possible: plain sight./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emFabulous./em/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"There was only one thing going for him: size./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Atlas wasn't small enough for Gerrusan to knock out in a week, so he had some time. By contrast, it seemed the enemy relied on quality over quantity, so he could likely obliterate their current crop of death machines and destroy a few major cities- once he found them, of course./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"But how... He didn't have the destructive power for a direct confrontation anymore, so he'd need to rely on something else.../p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""SCHNEE!" he calls over the intercom. "GET IN HERE!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Within seconds, the door to his office slides open to reveal his lieutenant- special operative Winter./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""I have a mission for you."/p  
hr style="margin: 5px 0px; border: 0px; background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 100% 100%, from(#ffffff), color-stop(0.1, #cbcbcb), color-stop(0.9, #cbcbcb), to(#ffffff)) #cbcbcb; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Schwarz snaps- the signal that the operation was beginning./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Nimmermehr descends, using the darkness of the night to mask its gliding form./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Silently, it loses altitude until reaching a short distance from the roof of the fortress./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"And, just like that, their plan colossally fails./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"The alarm goes off, causing all hell to break lose below./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Fuck!" Schwarz says, clenching his fists in frustration. They'd barely arrived and-/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"emWait.../em/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Sirens were high pitched./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"And loud./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Monody," he calls, gesturing for her to come closer. "I need you to direct the sound of their sirens into the ground."/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"She blinks once, a look of realization coming over her before she salutes./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"A few seconds later, the Deathshredders prove that all hell hadn't quite broken lose below./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"It was time to be somewhere else./p 


	66. Violence-2

James took a deep breath before tapping once on his scroll.

Two rings echo out before his call is answered.

"Yes, General?" the voice greets.

"Doctor, I need a little help from you."

There's a pause.

"What can I do for you?"

James smirks. "I need an army."

"How long?"

"About a week."

Another pause.

"This is about the Olympus outpost, isn't it?"

James sighs, tapping on the arm of his chair.

"You could say that, but it's more of answering their assault."

The doctor laughs, the sound rather jovial despite the situation.

"Best of luck, James."

"Luck is for the weak," he answers snarkily, hanging up the call.

With that sorted and Winter off on her assignment, he could rest easy for the moment.

 _Ah, but I have some stress to relieve... I've already blown through my monthly table budget,_ he groans, making his way to the deck of his command ship. Once there, he looks over the waves below with a calculating eye.

 _I guess a few leviathans will do._

With that, James dives into the sea.

* * *

 **So, I actually realized that I forgot to explain the difference between Deathshredders and Deatheaters. Both of them are based on Deathstalkers, but with different changes between the two. Deatheaters had their pincers replaced with digging arms which are best used against terrain or armor, and they are able to consume basically anything they can fit in their mouths, which have also been expanded. Deathshredders, by comparison, have rake-like appendages which allow for easy tearing of the target, so they're better at facing unarmored opponents.**

 **Glad I covered that... I'll have to go back and explain that earlier when I actually get around to rewriting this thing.**

* * *

As the sound visibly shakes the earth, a high pitched screech meets it with equal force.

Within moments, the quivering of the fortress turned to a full blown quake.

Schwarz leaps up to Nim, the rest of the group following suit a moment later to save themselves from the collapsing building.

It wouldn't last a minute.

"Alright- here comes the fun part. Those of you who are with me, we're going to return to the ground and call them towards us. From there, we have about a half-hour run towards Providence," Schwarz explains, ignoring the chaos down below. "We need to keep up a certain speed- one that matches theirs. I wouldn't be surprised if all of us could outrun them, at least over a flat plain, but they won't follow us if we get too far away."

"And how far away is that, exactly?" Novus asks, watching a Deatheater impale a man beyond the range of his spear.

Schwarz sighs, glancing down himself. "I'd say about thirty feet, at least for a long period."

That wasn't much when their tails could reach about ten.

"Fun."

"No," Schwarz says, "the real fun is what happens once we finally reach the wall. Even though it's made of concrete and several feet thick, the Deatheaters should have no problem getting through. With that as a distraction, we'd need to sneak our way into the Congress building, either killing or taking hostage everyone there. Nim should have no issues getting us out once the mission is complete."

Novus coughs, getting Schwarz' attention.

"And, pray tell, what is the goal of this mission?"

There's a pause.

"We are going to collapse the government of Gerrusan."

* * *

John walks down the hall, casually looking out at the sky through the frequent windows. Night time was ending soon, and the sunrise would greet the day.

But John hadn't slept. A niggling feeling had kept him awake, a pressure that forced him to be aware and prepared.

 _For what, though?_

He received no answers, but his instincts continued to shout alarm.

Something bad would happen.

John paused, turning to face the window directly. There, cresting just above the wall, was the edge of the sun.

Unfortunately, the brilliant orange hues did little to distract from the other thing he saw.

Cracks shooting up the side.

* * *

Vladimir raises an eyebrow at Ozpin as he entered the room. He'd been in here for a while, and nothing had happened as of yet.

"What is it now? Come to blow some stress on your punching bag again?"

"No," Ozpin states plainly. "It's time for your debut."

Vlad chuckles, easily shattering the handcuffs which were supposed to bind him. "You had a day or two- I hope whatever you've built for me is befitting of my time."

Ozpin laughs once. Just once.

"What I built for you?" he asks, a smug grin appearing on his face as he turns back towards the entrance. "The stage was all yours."

Vladimir freezes.

"Where are we?"

Ozpin walks out the door, calmly closing it behind him.

"WHERE ARE WE!?"

* * *

Schwarz watches as the Deatheaters get to work, easily tearing down the wall with their monstrous arms.

They were actually quite beautiful, at least to someone who admired a little destruction.

Fortunately, Nim allowed the group to avoid being held directly over it.

 _Have I told you how much I love you, Nim?_

 ** _You have- frighteningly often, actually. Did you have a Nevermore before me?_**

Schwarz stops.

 _That's right... You're not the Nimmerhel I remember..._

He smirks.

 _Time does a lot to a man._

His mind goes silent, so Schwarz resolves to simply enjoy the show.

The panic of the city would draw the Deatheaters into it, gradually pushing the horde towards the opposite wall while tearing down everything they can.

Of course, the Gerrusan military should be equipped to stop them eventually.

 _Show me what you got, Vladimir._

Schwarz blinks.

 _What the hell?_

Up in the sky, standing seemingly upon the air itself, was Vlad.

 _He isn't going to defend the city?_

 _ **I can feel his anguish- he probably can't.  
**_

 _But why...?  
_

* * *

Vlad looks down at the falling wall of the city.

It would be a massacre. With most of the troops out either besieging Menagerie or assaulting Atlas outposts, the city itself was minimally guarded.

There was no way any of the nations could get here in time, so they had assumed they were safe.

 _Why hadn't I heard anything about Grimm rampages? Deatheaters don't exactly move so far in silence..._

Had so much really happened in his absence?

"Oz..."

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Ozpin appeared.

"Yes?"

"I surrender."

His words go ignored.

"If the world is going to be re-balanced, a simple surrender will not cut it. Forgiveness for genocide is never given freely."

Vladimir doesn't turn to face Oz, but his glare grows in intensity regardless.

"And you are doing the same."

Ozpin steps forward, looking down at Deatheaters with indifference. "I didn't bring them here- that's just a happy coincidence. My message will only carry more weight."

Hatred flares in Vladimir's eyes, but he still denies his opponent the courtesy of eye contact.

"The only message you'll send is that of your death!" he declares, aura coming over his hand as he lunges for Ozpin's back.

But, an instant before impact, the familiar white glow vanishes, so his hand outstretched hand collides with a wall.

It hurt.

Actually hurt.

And it didn't go away.

Vlad recoils, clutching his hand by reflex. "What the hell!?"

Ozpin laughs, a sinister laugh normally reserved for the antagonists.

This story only had villains.

"You used your aura."

Vlad raises an eyebrow, still confused.

"What's that got to do with anything? It was only for a second!"

Ozpin smiles, that laugh returning as he turns to face Vladimir.

"What is a second, really?"

* * *

John makes his way to the balcony atop the capital building. While not an ideal place to defend, he wasn't worried about that.

He needed to see what was happening.

Needless to say, he didn't enjoy the sight.

 _Deatheaters..._

John takes a deep breath, clearing his mind as much as he could before his next action.

His aura comes around him, the typically white substance as black as Grimm.

Because that was what it was.

Wisps come off, spreading like fog to flood the roof of the massive building.

Even that wasn't enough, the smokey substance leaking over the edge and filling the streets.

And then, just like that, there were Grimm.

An army of them.

The moment they formed, they were off, racing across the cityscape to meet the oncoming Deatheaters.

And all before breakfast.

* * *

Vlad collapses onto the transparent platform, the loss in strength from his non-existent aura finally hitting him.

He was defeated, and- by the look of things from above- the city wasn't faring much better. John had sent out his Grimm, but they were being torn through far faster than the Deatheaters.

"You aren't going to save them?"

With a savage glint in his eye, Ozpin crouches down and lifts Vlad's chin to face him.

"I have a better idea... I won't kill you," he declares, allowing Vladimir's head to fall. "I'll destroy you."

Unable to move more than his eyes, Vlad doesn't even get the chance to watch what happens next.

* * *

"PEOPLE OF PROVIDENCE!" a voice calls down from the sky. "Your city is being laid waste while your military- your guardians- are out wreaking havoc upon the world under the orders of Vladimir Zarinoff!"

The noise level remains the same during the pause- a monstrous cry of Grimm on Grimm while the buildings around them are razed.

"Fear not!" the voice orders, contradicting the rather obvious fear response to your homes being obliterated within earshot. "For I, Ozpin, have come to save you all!"

The moment he finishes, Gerrusan goes silent.

The fighting had stopped.

Rather...

The fighters had stopped.

Frozen, like statues.

 **"Or, rather... I have come to RULE YOU ALL!"**

* * *

 **The Clockalypse (Hehehe) has started.**

 **And you have seen the first glimpse into the future.**

 **"But what is _the future_ really?"**

 **Shit! He's here!**

 **SAVE YOURSELVES!**


	67. Wraith-1

**Welcome to the rewrite of Wraith-1. As you probably know, the Wraith chapters I had written were horrifically short, unsatisfying, and written in present tense. Forutunately, I am here to rectify these problems.**

 **Mostly.**

 **This chapter only doubled in length, as will the others with this problem. It's simply unrealistic for me to write 16000 words that quickly, even with a template for the first 8000 or so, so they will not all be fully length chapters.**

 **They will be longer and better written, however, and since Wraith-1 through Wraith-4 are coming out at once, I figure you should be able to handle that.**

 **So here is the introduction to Draga's latest predicament: Isekai-tus, as the Anime Pope called it.**

 **Hope you all enjoy these chapters.**

* * *

Weightlessness was a strange feeling- true weightlessness, that was. There was no water keeping him afloat, nor air rushing past as he was taken by freefall. It was peaceful, in a way, as he imagined death would be. He'd expected blankness eternal.

Which made the infinite field of white seem completely out of place.

Equally bizarre were the myriad ways it seemed to affect him. For example, he no longer felt a need to breathe, but he was able to when he tried.

 _Well... This place is pretty cool,_ he thought

 **"Hello."**

Draga whipped around to the voice, but found nothing. Just more of the infinite expanse.

 **"It's fine to be confused,"** the voice assured him, **"but don't let that stop you from listening, because I don't have much time."** It chuckled to some joke Draga couldn't catch, but it turned almost sad as the voice continued. **"My name is Waktu, and I'm here to deliver a message: you need to grow stronger, and fast. Your power was reset, but I've given you something to help."**

As if on cue, Draga's hand flared an eerie blue hue. It burned with a spectral flame- one that felt familiar, yet foreign, as if it was something he knew long ago.

It was cold, but not freezing. Soothing, almost.

"Why do I need to get stronger?"

There's a pause.

 **"Your world is going to be in danger shortly, and it will fall on you to deal with it."**

Another moment passed, but its tone indicates that it wasn't finished.

 **"That, and a specter of your past will return eventually, and you need to be ready when that happens."**

"But-"

 **"Sh-h,"** the voice interjected. **"Don't you hear the bells?"**

* * *

Draga shot up, an alarm blaring into his ears. He stared at it, half blind from the way his barely awake mind tried futilely to keep up with his youthful body. Dammit... Why couldn't he just grow old here- at home.

He easily reached over to disable the ringing bells, not even needing to see the device to press the right button, and he settled back into bed. It was warm, and the mattress seemed to embrace him.

Comfortable- that really was the best way to describe it.

 _Just a few more hours... I'll head downstairs for breakfast later..._

At least, that was the plan until the door slammed open- the impact louder than his alarm, but that in turn was eclipsed by a woman's shouting. "What the _hell_ are you doing here!?" In his bedroom? Failing to get some sleep, apparently. He squinted at the woman, taking a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light behind her, but she apparently took his silence as something else. "This is a staff dorm, and I demand to know why you're in here."

 _Okay..._ Draga took a moment to glance around the room, but nothing seemed out of place compared to his room back in Sora's castle. Hell- the blade he'd been given by Atrioc was still hanging on the headrest of his bed.

So... What the hell was she talking about?

"This is my room...?" he hazarded, noting that virtually everything he could see was his. The only thing he didn't recognize was the cushion on his desk chair, but Steph frequently replaced those with new ones she'd made, so that didn't trigger any alarm bells either.

What did raise the hair on the back of his neck was the look in her eyes after he said that.

Draga was a rather orderly person, all things considered. With the kind of people he'd been picking up after for years, he kind of had to be.

Upon later questioning, that would be the explanation for his less than manly screech while being hurled out of the bed and- with skill rivaling that of the Warbeast priestess herself- he caught himself on the nearby wall with his face.

Annoyingly, there wasn't any sign of damage to the wall as he slumped to the ground before it. He wasn't really focused on that, though, but rather on the fact that his nose was bleeding.

Pinching his nose with one hand, he turned towards the intruder. "What the hell was that for!?"

"For being a brat!" she shouted back, aiming a hand towards him. "Now, tell me what you're doing in a staff dormitory or I will personally escort you to the headmasters office!"

The who? He knew what a headmaster was, but the closest university was over a kilometer away. Now that he thought of it, who was even here? They had magic- so an elf, perhaps?

He gives her a once over, taking in the image of a tall brunette with narrowed hazel eyes and some bland grey suit. Fairly unassuming, and very out of place for the technicolor world of Disboard, but his focus was naturally drawn to her ears. More specifically, the fact that they weren't pointed.

She wasn't an elf, and based on her lack of wings or any _other_ distinguishing feature, she almost had to be human. Unless an Old Deus was screwing with him- which wasn't entirely out of place, given that they would hardly accept loss at the hands of such a 'pathetic' race- but it still seemed unlikely.

They were petty, but they weren't emotional in the same way, so it wouldn't make much sense for her to react this way to even a fake infraction.

It was while he was trying to figure all of this out that his eyes roamed a little higher, and he just had to blink a few times to make sure it wasn't a mistake.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Diana Ninpolt, The Staff's Staff _  
_**

The words hung above her head, matching the nameplates that would frequently rest above Warbeast video game characters. That would explain everything, really.

He was being pranked by the Warbeast again.

It was a fairly common occurance, though rarely this overt. Their surrender- or equivelant to it, at any rate- to Sora and Shiro was widely accepted. He hadn't been a part of that game, though, and they were often angry that he was held to the same regard by the two of them as Izuna, despite coming in almost a year after her.

Placing him within one of their games, with a near perfect duplicate of his room, was certainly a new experience, and- upon realizing it- more things started to line up. The most blatant, and one he should have already noticed before now, was his nose. It had stopped bleeding almost instantly, and the red liquid was already gone from his hand and face.

Despite himself, Draga decided to just roll with it. He deserved a vacation from putting up with the King and Queens more obtuse habits, and they could damn well take care of themselves for a change.

 _Except I, and they, all know that Steph and Jibril will deal with everything anyway._

"So, Diana... What's the problem?"

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, just for a moment, before relaxing slightly. Right- her name should be public knowledge, so referring to her as such doesn't actually change anything. _Huh... This is actually a rather intricate AI._

"If it is your room, then I don't suppose you'd mind visiting the headmaster, now would you?"

He shrugged, getting up off the floor. "I don't see why not."

"Great," Diana remarked, clapping her hands together with just a little too much enthusiasm to be comforting. "I'm sure he can sort this whole thing out _._ "

* * *

Oliver looked up as a brief sequence of knocks- perfectly ordered and familiar- sounded on the door to his office.

"Come in."

At his request, the door slid open to reveal...

 _Oh?_

Diana dragged the hapless individual to a seat before taking one beside him.

The man brought before him wasn't someone he recognized, though he hardly knew all of the students personally. In a school of hundreds of youths, he only really met the prodigies, the failures, and the problem children. It didn't take a genius to figure out which he was, given the way he was both distressed and completely lacking in standard discipline.

He wasn't in uniform- though, given that it was a weekend, that much made plenty of sense. Beyond that, though, dying his hair to unnatural colors- such as his neon red- was prohibited by the dress code.

That wasn't something Oliver cared about himself, but he did know the regulations. Supposedly, these things made for more refined people- truly an archaic idea, but not one he was going to outright refuse

"What's this about, then?"

Diana turned to the newcomer expectantly.

"I'm sorry, Oliver, but I found this man within a staff dormitory- a trashed one, no less," she clarified. "He claimed it was his, so we came here to sort this out."

Based purely on the look she was giving him as she spoke, she had no intention of believing him.

 _Well now, we can't have that._

Looking the man over, Oliver smiled.

"I'm glad you did," he replied, watching the expression of the impostor dim further. "After all, I can't have you harassing your coworkers."

Based on the collective "WHAT!?" they returned- even if one of them was only in the eyes- he'd say that went about as he expected.

"This young man here is a skilled warrior despite his age, and I brought him in to assist you in your combat oriented teaching," he explained, smiling directly at the panicking youth. "I realize it's a surprise, but he only arrived just now. I figured it was best if he introduced himself personally."

Turning to face Diana, the man does introduce himself.

"Uh... Hi," he greeted her nervously. "I'm Draga, Draga Konungur."


	68. Wraith-2

Draga closed the door behind him with an exasperated sigh.

Of all the things they could have done, they made him a teacher, and for combat no less. Sure, he wasn't a slouch in a brawl, but he had no formal training. It was never necessary, when you had demons, elves, and Warbeasts to fight your battles for you. Perhaps that was the revenge aspect of it- a chance to get back at him for making them do the literal fighting of all his battles.

 _I have a few days before classes start, at least._

But he had to get skilled enough to pass off as a warrior- a proper one.

And it was all because of _him._

[̡̛̹̙̥̱̥̟̤̼̰̙̺͚̗͖̩̹̫̽ͪ͗͛̋̋̍̃͗̾̇ͣ̀̈́͟ **Ē̙͙͖̙̠̲̣̞͙̰̞̖ͮͥ̄̔ͭͮͨ̄̚͢͠R̸̴͍͖̩̥̗̦͔̬̜̙̠̤̻͌͑ͬͦ̉͌̏̃̄ͤ̅ͤ̈̋ͧ̌͗́͟R̴̷̟̭̲̪̼̗͔̣͚͓̲͖͇̜̠ͮ̎͗̑̅͋̓̃ͤ̔͊́͡͞Ǫ̛̘͉̲̘̮̼̪̥̟̰̥̭̻̱̼̎̊̈̐͒͑̐̿ͪ̋̽̚͞Ṛ̴̮̺̖͖͚͊ͯ̏͐̌́ͭ̎ͧ͟** ]̛̟̠̫̯̹͖̪̺͚̟͐̌̓̅͛̆̿͗̆̒̽̿̃̚͡͝  
 **Oliver Dens, the ̨ͬͯ̈́ͮ͛͏̱͎̜̤̪̪̪̖͚E̶̬̱̰̪̫̬̟̎ͮ̉͒ͧ̔̒̍ͪ̈́̀͋̀͠͠R̶̢͕͓̜̤̟͍̬̪̰͖͙͈͍̋ͧ̍̌͛̆̒͛ͨ͐ͬ͋̆́͐̇̋̕͡͝R̰̺͙͔̪̗̘̫̖̙̻̝̺̱̬̦͆̅́͌̎ͣ͘̕Oͫ̊͛̈͐̍̂̏͂ͫ͆ͨ̎̂̾̒͡҉̷͚̭̱̝̠̯̱͔̲̘̫͍̮͘͡R̄̈́͒ͣ̇̽̅͐̅̓͋ͭ͐̐̑͏͟҉̪̘̼͕͔͈̭͓̟̦̳͈̠̫**

 _Just what is he?_

Clearly a sadist at least. The smile more than confirmed that much. Sure, it didn't seem sadistic on the outside, but context is important. It hadn't been there until, while looking him dead in the eye, he said those damning words.

 _Ugh..._

He wasn't in trouble yet, at least, but innumerable questions were raised about the game as a whole. For instance, why would they bother to replicate his room if he wasn't in the palace? It would mean almost nothing in terms of tricking him if he took one step outside and could instantly tell the difference.

Man, that had been a shock upon first seeing it. His room was normally attached to a corridor containing the kitchens, the dining area, and the royal library, and a few other bedrooms- specifically those for Ixis and Nero, the two dwarves he conscripted.

None of those were there, or- rather- a library was, but it wasn't theirs.

Everything about the architecture was different, from the unfortunate lack of color variety to the widespread use of wood paneling. It was so... Pedestrian, while still being no doubt expensive as hell. He, of all people, would know the kind of funds and paperwork necessary to run that place.

Speaking of funds, he was rather lacking in them. He'd found some loose change in one of his pockets, but it was nothing even on Disboard, and this new world probably had its own currency.

Being a teacher would probably give him money in time, but he would neither get it now or before classes would start. There was no intention of sticking around for too terribly long, but it could be a learning experience if nothing else.

Perhaps a walk would clear his head... He still had to figure out exactly what he was gonna do here.

 **"... you need to grow stronger..."**

The phrase wasn't spoken, but rather was a memory. Of when, he couldn't exactly recall, but he had been told something along those lines many times before. Regardless of when he was remembering it from, it was an interesting idea.

This was a video game, and it apparently had levels built into it. Based on that, it probably had all kinds of interesting skills and stats in it as well.

Actually, by that logic, there were an insane number of things he would have to check. Were food items buffs or survival kit? Did he have access to magic, or any other crazy superpowers? Could he change the rules of the game through some kind of settings window?

Heck- were there other players?

So many things to look out for and do- and plenty of time for everything.

 _Look out world, here I come!_

* * *

As Draga made his way down the halls, each person he passed bore the nameplate as he'd seen before, but it seemed titles were optional based on the individual. Some had them, and they seemed completely personalized and often corny, while others just had their name and level. The levels were mostly question marks, though he could see those of a few particularly weak looking students, which were all below level 20.

Interestingly, animals had nameplates as well, though none of them had titles.

Even more intriguing, at least to him, was that Draga didn't have one over his head when he looked at his reflection in a window. It

Of course, that wasn't why he was moving through the hall. No... He needed the-

 _There it is._

Double doors were open before him; the campus library practically called out to him.

Among the many systems which would make sense for an ERPG, as this game seemed to be modeled after, was a in-depth skill system. Many ways existed to acquire said abilities. The most prevalent, and the one he was banking on existing here, was that of skill books.

Most of the time, skill books were a rare resource, only found in dungeons or from particularly tough opponents. Some were more flippant with the rules, though, and let you gain stats or skills from more mundane texts- or even create your own for other people.

Returning a passing greeting to the librarian on duty, he steps inside and starts studying the signs for each aisle.

There were far too many

Standing in front of a rack helpfully labeled 'Martial Arts', he surveyed the available collection. Most of them seemed to be historical too, but they were probably centered on the lives of famous fighters, so he didn't particularly mind.

After all, he did see something that fit his needs: _Beginners Guide to Close Quarters Tactics._

 _But I'm going to need more,_ Draga groaned, scanning the shelves for books by the same author- Jalan Pertempuran. _Odd name,_ he remarked before realizing how hypocritical that was. After all, Draga Konungur wasn't exactly common either.

A moment later, he noted that there was only one, and it didn't seem to be what he was looking for: _The Beast Kings; Trial By Fire_.

With a sigh, Draga reached out to pick up the book. If nothing else, the blurb might tell him if it was a skill book or not.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [The Beast Kings; Trial By Fire]!**

 **Would you like to use it?**

 **Y/N**

For a moment, Draga couldn't do more than stare at the prompt. It was similar to the nameplates over peoples heads, but with a few key differences.

Most importantly was the part at the bottom- the Y/N part. Not only was it a different color- a sky blue as opposed to the black of everything else- but it was pulsing as if demanding his attention.

But Draga didn't press the button. Based on his experience with ERPGs, it would likely consume the book somehow.

There was only one copy on the shelves, and he was the only one over here at the moment, so it would be incredibly suspicious if it went missing, and that's not even accounting for sound effects or the like.

With a sigh, he slid it back into place. He wasn't against stealing as a whole, but he didn't even know what he'd get out of it.

But that did raise a question.

There were multiple copies of the CQC guide, and he was supposedly a skilled warrior. If it went missing, nobody would suspect him of taking something it...

 _No... For now, I'll read it as normal._

As he withdrew the book, another thought hits him.

His cover would be blown if he got a bunch of beginners guide books legitimately...

 _FOR THE LOVE OF-  
_

Masking his grimace as a slight frown, he ignored the prompt and replaced the book.

He was trapped in the library...

 _But even then, I can't exactly eat the books here._

Silently cursing Oliver, he paused.

There was a new notification.

 **For rationally considering you circumstances, your Wis has increased by 1!**

 _Of course..._

The window disappeared on its own a moment later, leaving Draga to stew on the new information.

First, the world had full range of stats, which could be increased by simply conducting basic actions. That meant he could train physically, and hopefully just outpace the growth of normal people enough to fake competence.

Second, a virtual world could easily be tampered, meaning it could theoretically be possible for him to break or hack the game. Shiro would cringe at the very idea, but he wasn't technically a part of [], so they could deal with him exploiting the system. It's not like he was here for a high score anyway.

It was while he was scanning the shelves that he

Magic was real, and he'd probably need that more than martial arts. If he could get his stats or abilities to be absurd enough, though? In almost all cases, moving inhumanly fast or punching with titanic forces outpaced magic.

Sure, no amount of Warbeast were going to take down an Old Deus, but they were more than able to fight on even terms with the Demonia, despite the effectively infinite disparity in magic talent.

There was no real way martial arts alone could compete with magic without insane statistical differences. I mean, you try dodging or countering lightning. Hell, any of the elements, when you were an ordinary human, and that was ignoring mind or reality warping effects.

It would clearly be more worthwhile to just get every skill he could. Even if they weren't usable at the moment, quantity did have a quality all of its own, and it could lead to some drastic combinations.

Leaning against one of the bookcases, Draga lowered his head. He was going to be here a while.

 _I'm a game character, right? That means I should be able to learn magic, despite not having any spirit circuits._

The skillbook system was great, but he didn't have any money, and it's not like he could ask Oliver for any... Right?

 _Actually, he got me into this mess, so he might help me stay here. After all, he wouldn't want his entertainment kicked out..._

But then he realized something else a little more annoying. Within the game, Oliver was an employer, and he was an employee.

So he'd get money, but not now.

Which meant that wouldn't help him.

 _So I'm basically stuck stealing, then... But how...?_

He pauses.

What was a mechanic in every RPG in the history of RPGs?

An Inventory.

As if responding to the thought, a window slides open in front of him with a big bold **Inventory** at the top left.

It was empty.

 _Figures._

36 boxes, arranged in a 9x4 stretched off to the right of a character diagram, one that displayed him with a bunch of extra boxes which would normally hold equipment.

Interestingly, his clothes didn't even take up the slots, so they were all blank except for one...

One of the eight ring slots.

Sure enough, a look at his right hand would reveal a silver ring with a simple colorless gem embedded into it.

He hadn't even noticed it before now- his mind being all to focused on other things. It didn't seem to be doing anything, and though he couldn't tug it off when he tried, it wasn't uncomfortable either.

The icon on his Inventory was fairly generic too- not even showing the correct shape of jewel on top. Experimentally, Draga tapped it with one finger, and was rewarded with a little popup.

 **Kembar - A ring found within the Enchanted Cave. Unless someone else is wearing a Kembar, this ring is only decorative.**

 _Well that's helpful,_ he quipped, rolling his eyes at his own sarcasm. The menu closed on its own a few seconds later, and he didn't bother bringing it back. Based on what it said, the ring was only decorative, at least for now. Though, that did raise the question of whether there were more.

 _I mean, there has to be. It wouldn't even exist otherwise, right?_

The inventory did still have a few implications, though. Since his clothes, and the contents of his pockets, weren't counted, it implied that the Inventory wasn't just what was on his person. There were a lot of things that could mean, but there was one easy way to test it.

Gripping the CQC guide once more, he slowly pushed it into the still visible Inventory.

As it passes through the window, it seems to disappear, and it's not till he's shoved the whole thing through that one of the slots changes to a book icon.

 _Perfect._

Anything he wanted to bring with was free for the taking, and even if someone noticed, what were they going to say? That he had an invisible hammer space to hide stolen goods in? Even the Warbeast would see proving the 'game' real as impractical, and just make the NPCs ignore it.

Even if they hadn't, he had innumerable excuses, and he was about to get another one.

 _I guess you are coming with me after all,_ he thought with a smirk, bringing up Trial By Fire again. Since it was likely historical, he could easily explain this checkout as idle curiosity while skipping out with everything else in his inventory.

But that left him to find other things to take...

Plenty of books called out to him, and almost everything he touched ended up being a skillbook, but he slowly moved towards the older texts- those that had become disused or outdated. Even if they weren't useful to the students, didn't mean any skills he garnered from them would be useful.

 **For rationally considering you circumstances, your Wis has increased by 1!**

Draga almost laughed at that, and after a moment to see if anyone was looking his way, actually did. Man, this game was even easier to exploit than the Materialization Shiritori Jibril was such a big fan of. Two points in twenty minutes? Sora and Shiro would be gods here come the next weekend.

That was them, though, and he intended to at least try a warrior route for once. Magicians broke the game too easily to be fun, most of the time, and the exponential strength growth often left games unbalanceable.

On that note, he picked up a few more ratty textbooks, before letting out a contented sigh.

At least one part complete, Draga made his way around the shelves and into the magic collection.

Filling easily four times as much space as the martial arts area, Draga's immediate thought was ' _Jackpot_ ', but it soon became clear it wasn't quite that easy. The books were almost invariably unique, and those that weren't had markings or numbers identifying them. Apparently magic books were a more worrying target for theft, and they had to work around that.

There was one book, however, with well over twenty copies, and it seemed like an obvious choice to just grab #17 and hope for the best. Everyone was a suspect, given the nature of the book itself, and it likely wouldn't worry anyone too much.

Placing the book- affectionately titled 'Elementary Magic for Dummies'- in his inventory, he trodded on over to the counter.

"Yo, Kilik," he greeted, stealing the name from the plate above his head, "I'd like to check out this book."

The man glanced up from whatever he'd been reading, confusion on his face. "Good for you?"

Draga paused, placing the book on the counter. "Is that a no?"

"No..." he drawled, apparently bored by the conversation. "You just need to pass move the book over this scanner and put in your ID number."

"Ah..." Man, this game was already proving to be broken. Wasn't something like that given once you logged in- or, since this was school related- shouldn't he have gotten it from Oliver originally? "Where do I get my ID number?"

The librarian covered his face with one hand and sighed, but he resigned himself to help by changing

"Name?"

"Draga Konungur," he says, praying to Tet- _God_ , he corrected, noting that this world might not worship the god of games- that Oliver was a fast worker.

"A new teacher, huh? Great..." he remarked, sounding less than enthused as he scrolled down the page. "Alright, your ID code is 9841591. There's a pad of sticky-notes on the desk- feel free to write that down."

Draga does just that, pulling the small slip of paper from the rest and planting it on the back of the book. A number pad accepted his inputs readily, and after a final button press, the computer whirred into action.

With a simple beep, it was complete.

 _That went well,_ he thought as he walked back through the double doors. _And because of that, life's going to screw with me in 3... 2... 1..._

Nothing.

 _Huh,_ Draga shrugged, strolling down the hall to his room. _This might actually be fun._


	69. Wraith-3

**I have slightly overestimated my ability to write quickly. Wraith-4 will be coming out tomorrow, though the Tuesday schedule will be retained.**

 **I'm sorry for the inconvenience.**

* * *

The instant the door closed behind him, Draga's calm demeanor vanished as he tore the skillbooks from his inventory.

He had a few days- they hadn't even seen fit to specify the exact number- before classes began, and he was going to spend every available moment getting ready for that eventuality. The game might very well have been programmed with the goal of keeping him hired, since it seemed illogical that Oliver would be able to get away with that in any realistic setting, but it would only help to look the part.

With that in mind, he took out the first skill book and burned the knowledge into his mind.

And that was the literal interpretation. As he clicked yes, the books dissolved into light before beaming into his head, bringing the knowledge of how the techniques work with them.

The first book didn't actually unlocked any skills, but it did bring various techniques with it, including- though not alone- how to properly parry a weapon.

Staying alive was probably important, and the knowledge itself was useful out of the game too. Who knows- maybe he could challenge Sora to a proper fight after this was over. He wouldn't get to keep the skills themselves, or any stat increases, but it's not like Sora had those kinds of advantages either.

Somehow, he doubted it would be much use against Shiro. Fighting was a battle of physics, after all, and near limitless processing power basically negated any edge he could get from learning techniques.

Several of the other books contained similar things- or, rather, all of them did, though the techniques seemed relegated to sword or hand to hand combat for some reason- but he did get a few skills out of them as well.

 **Disciple Of All (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Although martial arts can only be truly learned through combat, nobody can say studying it doesn't have its uses.**

 **Decreases the MP cost of all martial arts skills by 10.15%**

 **Allows the user to observe a fighting style and copy techniques (does not produce skills).**

 **Fleet Of Foot (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50, 50 per minute**

 **While strength is important, there is no greater threat than those faster than you.**

 **Increases movement speed by 10%. Does not affect perceptions.**

 **Bracing (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:20, 20 per second**

 **Sometimes, you simply have to take a hit. When you do, you can always do it right.**

 **So long as you have a surface to brace against, you take 20.3% less damage and are knocked back 40% less.**

 **Martial Dance (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Every conflict is an intricate chess game, a sequence of move and countermove, but speed helps.**

 **Increases Dex by 1.**

 **While in combat, Dex is raised by 5%.**

None of them was particularly impressive- as they were now, anyway- but they did bring up a few important questions.

A big one being, where was his stats page? He already knew he had Wis, or Wisdom, but now Dexterity was a confirmed stat, as was MP, and presumably HP. So...

 _Character? Stats? Details?_

 _..._

 _Status?_

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: None**

 **Title: None**

 **Level: LVL1**

 **HP: 500**

 **MP: 500**

 **Str: 10**

 **Vit: 10**

 **Dex: 10(11)**

 **Int: 10**

 **Wis: 12**

 **Luk: 10**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 6'2"**

 **Weight: 164**

 **Money: 0**

 **Status Effects**

 _Welp..._

That was quite a lot of information, and absolutely none of it helpful. Experimentally, he tapped a finger on the MP part, but there wasn't a response. No window popped up to explain the magic system- which would have been really convenient.

Interestingly, though, his finger still pressed against the menu.

 _Hm..._

Curious, Draga placed his full hand on the surface and pushed, to no avail.

They were material, at least to him.

 _That could be useful... But it could also screw me over._ Particularly if he went to attack someone and hit an indestructible wall.

Reaching for one of his shirts- previously laying discarded on the floor- he tried pressing it into the menu. It fell through, crumpling to the ground as he let go.

That confirmed it; the windows only interacted with him.

Continuing to tamper with the menu, he dragged his finger across the surface of it. The tab followed him, moving along a cylindrical frame, which allowed him to move it up and down normally and rotated around him- keeping roughly three feet away.

They followed him as he moved too, but they seemed to have some strange measure of exactly where he was. He could take a step back, and it would move, but it wouldn't change if he leaned forward. It wasn't based off his feet, either, as they didn't react to him kicking one leg out.

 _But how can I actually use this..._

He couldn't really think of a way, unless he got fast enough to jump up walls. Then, he could essentially jump forever by surrounding himself in them.

 _Except that such a tactic would also blind me..._

The windows the game produced were opaque, so he couldn't just fill the cylinder with them. Now, if they could move below him, they'd be a floating invisible floor, which would be useful in a number of ways, but they clearly thought of that when they were designing the game.

With a sigh, Draga slumped down onto his bed. He had limited time to grow stronger, and needed to get a lot of training done in that time. He had to read up on magic, and hopefully unlock some basic skills for it too. Even just a distraction could decide a battle.

Time efficiency was key- both in the sense that he only had a few days before he would be tested and that he didn't plan to stay here forever. To that end, anything he could stack on top of one another would be incredibly useful.

First thing to do was activate Fleet of Foot. It wasn't a great skill, necessarily, but it was cheap- unlike bracing- and would last 10 minutes even without knowing his mana regen. That also made it ideal for testing that out.

Draga reached into his inventory, pulling out that only remaining book within. "Perfect," he said as he placed Elemental Magic for Dummies on the floor- open to the first page- and getting into pushup position over it.

What followed would probably be an epic montage of him sweating, turning pages with his nose, and doing increasingly contrived pushups. Unfortunately... Well...

He only made it to the end of page four before he collapsed.

Hey, you try holding a downward pushup position with one arm long enough to flip a page in a book- it's hard, you know.

 **By committing yourself to strenuous exercise, you've increased your Str by 1!**

 _Figures that I wouldn't get a Vitality from a whole minute of exercise..._

Man, screw the Warbeasts. Just because they have the second most capable bodies on the planet, they made their games carry over the real world physical abilities of the players.

With an audible groan, he grabbed the book and pulled himself off the ground. He didn't have the endurance to train his endurance- at least not like this.

Which meant he had to run instead.

Unfortunately, his room- large though it may be- wasn't nearly the size he'd need the track to be.

The school probably had one, but that carried its own risks, such as the risk that he was slow compared to others.

After all, the average level of the people he passed here- at least for those he could see- was in the low twenties. If that was based on stats, he was probably weak physically even to the first years.

Which left finding a secluded space to run.

He didn't know the campus, but he was certain most of that was out. The odds of being seen were too high, even if he found some abandoned section somewhere.

 _Didn't someone mention a forest nearby?_

The conversation didn't involve him, but people generally underestimate how much others hear about from their 'private' moments.

Slipping the book back into his Inventory, Draga scanned the room for proper attire. He didn't have an armor set lying around or anything nearly that useful, but the sweater and leggings he was wearing now weren't ideal for running either.

 _Wait..._

Draga tossed a random shirt into his inventory, one of the empty slots filling with a shirt icon.

Experimentally, he tossed another one in, and it just stacks on top of it- a little 2 being added in the bottom right corner of the icon.

He could carry his entire wardrobe around with him, and probably change with the game system too.

 _Is the game sure my Luk is only 10? It seems a lot higher than that..._

Regardless, Draga goes about the room haphazardly tossing whatever clothing he finds into the window.

By the time he was done, his room actually looked clean.

Well, if you ignored the bed, but he didn't get a chance to make it in that morning, and he wasn't going to bother now.

As he wrapped up, he glanced back at his inventory. Clothing wouldn't provide any real defense; even jeans would only help against thrown rocks or minor accidents, and he wasn't yet armed.

Turning back towards his bed, he looked above the bedpost. Sure enough, it was still there- The Glided Blade.

It wasn't actually legendary, by any means. In reality, it had only been used in three major conflicts over its several hundred year lifespan. But that still meant it wasn't decorative. The damascened blade had seen blood, and it was cared for enough that the wear never showed.

Not by him, though... Until now, he'd just used it as a mantelpiece or equivalent.

 _Today, the blade becomes mine._

If he was in a combat school, he might as well practice swordsmanship, right?

Tossing the sheathless blade into his inventory, he watched as a golden sword icon takes over a sixth slot.

It didn't really fit, placed beside 12xShirt, 7xPants, 22xSock, 3xCoat, and 4xShort.

Oh, and before you ask, Pants is the singular known of the piece of clothing. A pant only covers one leg. Apparently the Warbeast strict adherence to protocol knew no bounds- and it became even more awkward when the use of Short was taken into account, since the term Shorts was a combination of Short Pants.

Whoever invented language deserved to be stabbed in the eyes- with this sword in particular, whatever its name is.

 _Actually,_ Draga thought, tapping on the icon in his inventory. _I can find that out now._

 **Sverð af hvítum - A holy blade, formed of the legendary Damascus Steel, intended to be used as an instrument of war.**

 _Sverð af hvítum, huh? Definitely foreign, but I can't place it._ Sora and Shiro could probably help, since he'd only ever learned spoken English and written Kana. Even if the language was native to Disboard, they'd probably have learned it by now.

No use whining about it now, though. He was hardly going to rely on their help here, where there weren't any stakes. While you lost progress, usually, there weren't any real life consequences for dying in one of the Warbeasts virtual realities.

Scanning his room for anything else worth taking, Draga noticed a thin line of light come from his now slightly ajar door. It wasn't much, but it contrasted with his dimly lit room.

"Hello?" Draga called, taking a step towards the door.

The eavesdropper slid the door just a little bit further, revealing a student standing behind it. He was a little shorter than Draga and was wearing a full outfit of dark grey- which was better than black for stealth, since it matched shadows more easily. His ensemble was entirely cloth, too, except for what appeared to be steel attached to the toe of each shoe.

He was a man clearly built for stealth rather than combat, though one who looked like an agile opponent in melee.

Of course, his title kind of gave that away, making most of his deduction pointless.

 **[LVL26]**

 **Azoth Prair, The Shadow**

 _Welp._

"So you're the new teacher," Azoth said, to which Draga merely nods. "I have high hopes for you. Don't let me down."

Azoth turned, walking out of sight without comment.

 _Was that a threat?_ Draga pondered as his body visibly relaxed. _Is that a thing students do here?_

It honestly would be the least of his worries at this point. He just hoped Azoth hadn't seen what he did to the sword.

The last thing he needed was _more_ attention.

Okay... Not last. There were way too many thing he wanted to never happen, or happen again- _Jibril..._ \- for that to even make the list, but within this world? It managed to slip in somewhere between gamebreaking bugs and being locked in the game.

Making his way through the halls, he marked the darkening sky as dusk. That was great, actually, since it meant he wasn't as likely to be seen leaving the campus.

Speaking of-

Draga stepped outside the tall double doors of the institution, the grounds laid out before him like an open field; because that was what it mostly consisted of. Besides a few cobbled paths stretching off to the left and a main road leading to what looked like an air field, there wasn't an exit.

 _Of course..._

He couldn't pilot an airship, obviously, which left those cobbled paths or trying to find another way down from the apparently elevated school.

Despite the temptation the other paths left, Draga actually strolled out onto the airfield. It would probably overlook a cliff face of some kind, but that didn't mean there wasn't a path down.

The airfield was dark as Draga snuck through it. _Fancy, that._ Nobody seemed to be out there, and that meant he was free to scan the edge of what he confirmed to be a cliff.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a path carved into the rock, even when he made his way from one side to the other.

 _Figures my luck would run out sometime..._

Ignoring the failure, Draga made his way back to the cobblestone paths. They led down a hill and towards a wall, eventually reaching a gate. An open one, no less.

Scanning over the passage, he noted that it was also unguarded.

 _That doesn't seem safe..._

Crouching down, Draga continued his approach at a slower pace.

And it reached him- voices.

"Man, how long are we supposed to stand here? It shouldn't take him that long."

"Look, infiltration isn't nearly as easy as it looks. He may be a shadow, but that doesn't really work in well lit areas."

 _Shadow..._

As if on cue, a smug face seemed to materialize on the battlement above the gate. Azoth was looking straight at him, smiling broadly. Then, with a two-finger salute, he vanished once again.

A moment later, so do the voices.

 _That's probably not good..._

He could go get someone from the staff, but they would almost invariable escape by then. That was also ignoring the inevitable questions of how and why he'd even been out here. There were explanations he could come up with- but none of them were really any good- and, even if the game was programmed to keep his job here, it would break immersion to find that out.

 _It'll be fine... Azoth clearly doesn't mean me harm, at least right now, and he seems too playful to have told the others._

Not much to go on, but he wasn't exactly panicking either. Hell- Azoth specifically sought him out- so his involvement was probably the main storyline of the game.

That only really left two options: let them get away or sneak after them.

 _I just talked myself into following a trio of likely-professional criminals, didn't I?_


	70. Wraith-4

_**IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE AT THE BOTTOM FOR ALL LONG-TERM VIEWERS!**_

* * *

 **In order to make this chapter, I had to read back quite a few of them, and... Jesus, I sucked. That rewrite is definitely necessary once I'm done here. Practically everyone is emotionless- with only two people supposed to be- and Draga lacks basically any relation to No Game No Life until he literally encounters Sora and Shiro again.**

 **Such will not be a problem later, but I still need to wrap up.**

 **The story, as it stands, should take around 9-12 chapters of buildup, and then a climactic showdown of indeterminate length. Given that, Fickle Things should be completed sometime in January, though I might make an effort to release chapters early to end before the new year.**

 **At that time, the rewrite will begin, and it should go much faster than the actual writing of this colossus. I doubt most of you who are reading this will ever read the story over again, since I know I wouldn't. However, I absolutely must thank any of you who managed to make it this far.**

 **I am honestly astonished by how many views this story has managed to acquire- especially with how bad my old writing apparently was. I have no one else to thank but you guys.**

 **Danke.**

* * *

Tailing people was a lot harder than movies made it out to be. Criminals hardly stayed on main streets, and these people didn't even do him the courtesy of using alleyways- instead traipsing across the town from the rooftops.

Draga couldn't exactly do that. Even if he could jump across the streets, which he very well might be able to do- there were small ledges and the bits of jutting wood or stone he could use, after all- the act alone would tip them off.

Azoth clearly didn't care- and was likely just having fun screwing with him- but the others were up to something nefarious. Criminals didn't usually take kindly to being tailed, much less by someone who was even remotely related to peacekeeping. While he'd yet to learn the exact role of Oliver's school in society, they did teach combat, and it didn't take a genius to assume they were involved in stopping crooks.

Specifically what they were doing... He didn't know. It was reasonable to assume infiltrating a combat school wasn't something they were supposed to be doing, and that was all the motive he really needed.

There were authorities here, right? All he needed to do was find where they went and send them their way. Problem solved. Of course, if this was the main storyline, something would inevitably go wrong- but that was supposed to happen. It wasn't like they were going to kill him in the first mission.

Now if only the hairs on the back of his neck would go down. Something was wrong, but he could literally have guessed that before he even passed the game back on campus. He'd already followed them through a small forest trail that let into a rather large city- though one smaller than the capital of both the Warbeasts and Imanity.

That wasn't exactly fair, given that the buildings themselves were taller. Most of the residential areas were two stories, with the occasional three or even four story building, as opposed to the largely floor level world he was from.

 _Man, I am really easily distracted._ It would become less of a problem when he had something to focus on, besides just making his way down the road at the same speed they crossed the rooftops.

It was almost too easy to keep up, which made some sense. Even if they could move faster, they were clearly avoiding detection, and that would slow them down quite a bit.

He didn't need to stay out of sight- just avoid causing a panic or some wild accident.

Eventually, the crowds thinned out, and- with it- the contemptuous ease with which he kept up with them. Since nobody was there to detect them- besides him, obviously- they slipped down to the ground.

It was easier to keep track of where they were, but the difference in speed became more than apparent. They would lose to Izuna, sure, but would easily outrace every human on Disboard.

Fortunately, he didn't have to keep up with them. All he had to do was see where they went and catch up later.

Eventually, they turned off the road and slipped into some seemingly random building. It didn't have any signs or windows inside which could indicate what it was supposed to be- though he doubted those would be accurate by now anyway.

Criminals were many things, but if they took over an abandoned bakery, they weren't exactly going to start making cakes.

This was the place, regardless. The question was how he should use that knowledge.

The game hadn't given him quests for any of this stuff, implying that he cold take various different paths. Report it to the authorities? Even if he knew exactly what they were actually up to, they might not be interested, and the location alone would be completely meaningless to them.

Logically, then, he needed to get inside.

Draga scanned the walls, ignoring the vast stretches of graffiti as he checked for windows. Several existed, at regular intervals on the second and third floors, but none anywhere he could actually reach.

There _was_ a fire exit, but they clearly knew that too since the windows near there were boarded up. He could probably break in, but not without alerting everyone in a twenty mile radius.

That left the front and back doors, which were almost definitely guarded or locked, and the roof.

Given the nature of stealth games, it didn't take the genius that he was to figure out which was better.

How to get up there, though? The closest thing he had to a direct route- the fire exit- was both incomplete and tenuous. While the ladder leading up to it seemed fine, the bolts holding the stairway together were clearly weathered by rain, and the stairs didn't even lead up to the roof. They ended on a third story window.

If he climbed the railing, he might be able to reach the roof, but then he'd be trusting an even smaller part of the poorly maintained stairs to hold him up.

 _Yeah, no..._ The much better, and frankly obvious answer, was the roof itself, and the very thing Azoth had been doing for the last twenty minutes.

One of the adjacent buildings was three stories tall, meaning he'd need only to reach the roof of that. Not an inconsequential task, since he didn't know the contents of that one either, but certainly easier and safer than the alternatives.

The new building was unlocked, though that seems a little unfair with how the mechanism was clearly blown off, and was dark. Moonlight had let him navigate outside, but even that was absent in here.

He didn't have a lightsource on him- and certainly wouldn't trust the wood paneling to resist the flames of a torch. What else was there.

A skill, perhaps? He hadn't unlocked any that would be useful here, but he'd never thought to check what the game started him out with.

Bringing up the menu with a thought, he was instantly taken in by what he saw.

He had way more than he should have.

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL15 EXP 4.13% MP:0**

 **Marksmanship (Passive) LVL16 EXP 82.14% MP:0**

 **Lightning (Passive) LVLMAX EXP MP:0**

 **Pale Lightning (Active) LVL13 EXP: 86.16% MP:76 [Locked]**

 **Physical Endurance (Passive) LVL8 EXP: 69.42% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL8 EXP: 20.00% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Stealth** **(Passive and Active) LVL2 EXP: 14.88% MP:10, 10 per second [Locked]**

 **Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:50, 50 per second [Locked]**

 **Virulent Scourge (Active) LVL8 EXP: 4.06% MP:100 [Locked]**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP: 0 [Locked]**

 **Muscular Endurance (Passive) LVL18 EXP: 52.12% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Toughness (Passive and Active) LVL3 EXP: 10.22% MP:50, 50 per second [Locked]**

 **Scales (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Elemental Presence (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:500, 500 per minute [Locked]**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVLMAX MP:10, 10 per second [Locked]**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:5000, 500 per second beyond 1 minute [Locked]**

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP: 50, 50 per 3 seconds [Locked]**

 **Langit Sanjata (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Fantasy (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Breath of the World (Active & Passive) LVL14 EXP: 74.27% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Acceleration (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL8 EXP: 92.00% MP:9200 [Locked]**

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 90.00%% MP:10000 [Locked]**

 **The Blind Fist (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Gelap (Active) LVL4 EXP: 9.58% MP:100 [Locked]**

 **Stampede (Active) LVLMAX MP: 100, 100 per second [Locked]**

 **White Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL3 EXP: 8.15% 98, 25 per second. [Locked]**

 **Claws of the White Tiger (Active) LVL7 EXP: 12.43% MP:100, 100 per minute [Locked]**

 **White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL4 EXP: 84.10% MP:50 [Locked]**

 **White Tiger's Roar (Active) LVL2 EXP: 90.54% MP:750 [Locked]**

 **White Tiger's Five Hundred Years (Active) LVL9 EXP: 14.99% MP: 500, 500 per second [Locked]**

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL19 EXP: 15.59% [Locked]**

 **Mana Tapping (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 51.64% MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Fire (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Sleep Casting (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Flaming Shadow (Active) LVL18 EXP: 14.42% MP:91, 91 per second [Locked]**

 **Elemental Mixing (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Giant's Strength (Passive) LVLMAX Stack: 1 MP:100, 100 per second [Locked]**

 **Osteo (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Air (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Aureola (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 13.89% [Locked]**

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL8 EXP: 19.01% MP: 96000 [Locked]**

 **Trample (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 14.15% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Magic Coating (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Lightning Release (Active) LVL4 EXP: 96.51% MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Call of the Storm (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000 per second [Locked]**

 **Panen (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Grimm (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable [Locked] [Unavailable]**

 **Sliding Mastery (Passive) LVL21 EXP: 13.74% MP:0**

 **Streamlined (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 64.32% MP:0**

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:4 MP: 0 [Locked]**

 **Mana Burn (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Abyss (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000000 [Locked]**

 **Mana Drain (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0 [Locked]**

 **Greater Mana Capacity (Passive) [Locked]**

 **Divided Gaze (Active) LVLMAX MP:Variable [Locked]**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Disciple Of All (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Fleet Of Foot (Active) LVL1 EXP: 98.78% MP:50, 50 per minute**

 **Bracing (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:20, 20 per second**

 **Martial Dance (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

The sheer number of skills- just... What?

Something was wrong- that much was blatantly obvious. The problem was, he couldn't even begin to think of an explanation. No gamemaker on Disboard, or Earth, or any other world, would think that starting someone out like this would be practical.

Info dumps are one thing, but this is in another league. Unless this was somehow all of the skills in the game- which would be stupid in its own right- there would be no reason for the fifty odd locked skills to be there. What the hell did it mean Unavailable on Grimm, for that matter!? It was Locked too, making that label irrelevant.

This wasn't a Warbeast game, that much was clear. Something more was happening.

Something else.

 **"... I've given you something to help..."**

It was only a memory, but Draga stumbled back, clutching at his head. Images flashed, sounds and voices echoing through his mind as what felt like years of information was relived in seconds. Lightning seemed to pulse through his brain, pulling a gasp from him as he experienced the pain of death.

Once, twice, three times, four.

Being crushed, disintegrated, torn apart, and slaughtered. It was fast- lasting but an instant- but searing pain still lanced through him as he relived those moments. The speed was a blessing, despite how it masked what he was experiencing, since the sensations faded mere seconds after they arrived.

As for the rest... Details were vague- mostly. Specific faces lingered, names unclear despite the familiarity he felt with them. Friends, or at least those who he knew for longer. Along with one name... One he hated, despite lacking the context for why.

Tzeentch.

And then it ended, as quickly as it had come, ending with another burst of pain. A fifth death- and one he'd experienced before, apparently.

Spontaneous combustion was a lot more painful than he thought it would be. Victims just weren't able to communicate how the body reacted. He'd only existed for a second, within that beam of light, but it was easily his slowest death.

His own power had fought it off, if only momentarily. Incomplete... Weak.

He'd been powerless to stop Tzeentch, when the time came, and he'd died for it.

A burning in his lungs reminded him to breathe, and so he did, taking in great gulps of air.

Calm. It was strange, and he knew it wasn't natural, but it was no less welcome for it. The sense of dread and disappointment wasn't gone, but muted, and that allowed him to think rationally about the situation. He was a literal game character, meaning this reality wasn't a Warbeast game. That actually made some sense, since neither Diana or Oliver had known his name just from looking above him.

Azoth hadn't spoken it, and he'd never talked to anyone else, but it stood to reason they couldn't see it either.

Which meant he was also unique, or at least semi-unique, within this world. That... Sucked, since it meant he didn't have anyone to fall back on for help. He did have powers, though, which theoretically meant he could grow to defeat his target.

But not here. He needed to level up, and fast. Locked though his skills were- _still are_ , he noted, checking the skills page really quick- he could still see their costs. Expensive as balls, many being completely uncastable, and that was ignoring any stat requirements they might have beyond just mana or HP.

There was no way he'd get that kind of exp here, but the game system would probably pick up on that. He could remember changing worlds before, and the game had to remember that too.

It- or the one who made it- seemed intent on letting him win, too. If that were the case, it should act accordingly.

 **[Quest Alert]**

 **Time And Time Again**

 **Look, kid, just go. I'm busy being the one true God, here. I don't have unlimited free time to write your flavor text.**

 **Level up, gain strength and tools, and eventually challenge Tzeentch.**

 **Time Limit: Before we all die, numbskull.**

 **Reward: Not being dead and/or trapped within a maelstrom of chaos for all of eternity.**

 **Failure: The opposite of that.**

Jeez, who pissed in his corn flakes?

That did mean the game was working for him, which meant it should be coming up with a way to transport him any second now.

 _Any second now._

Draga stood about, looking from side to side as he waited for something to happen. None of his skills had the ability to travel between worlds, from what he could gather from their titles, and any that could would surely be locked. Somehow, he doubted Marksmanship included shooting himself into space.

A few moments later, the game caught up with him, and a gray portal manifested before him. It was instant, and silent, but the thrum of power that emanated from it was palpable.

Taking one last breath, Draga wished Sora and Shiro goodbye. Despite the new memories- which seemed to encompass over a year of life- it felt like less than a day that he'd last seen them; he had to save more than just their world, which meant leaving them behind.

With only an ounce of hesitation, which was swiftly quashed by the memory of Tzeentch's face- and the subsequent drive to crush that which angered him- he stepped into the portal.

* * *

 **Boom! 70th chapter complete.**

 **This calls for a celebration! I know exactly what to do.**

 **Kill everyone.**

 **No- no- I'm not R.R. Instead, I wanted you all to vote on what world he will be visiting after this next one. If you have a world you want him to visit, but it isn't listed, feel free to message me or leave a review. If it fits the kind of thing I am looking for (a world with lots of things to kill and people to help) then we're golden, and it will be added to the poll.**

 **Any ties will be settled by my discretion, but I will agree with whatever the decision is should a majority be reached.**

 **This poll is a thing because the specific worlds Draga visits aren't actually that important. This is the equivalent of a training montage in other stories, only with gratuitous slaughter of progressively stronger worlds.**

 **There should only be three worlds visited, and I already have the third decided. The second is subject to change, however, much like the first.**

 **I hope to hear back from you.**


	71. Worlds-1

The moment he passed through the portal, he instantly hated whoever was responsible for making them. The world itself wasn't that unusual, or even particularly dangerous looking- except for the dark grey mist that seemed to permeate the overgrown ghost-town he landed in. His problem was with the way the portal he entered was vertical, nice and easy to walk into, and the other end was horizontally several feet up.

He needed a manager. Sora would jump at the opportunity, but even Steph would be better than whatever buffoon kept messing with him like this.

Indignant though he was, Draga rose to his feet and took a look around. The quest hadn't specified how long he had, or how powerful he would need to get, but it was a safe call to just start immediately.

Surrounding him, massively tall structures- all originally the pristine white of marble- had fallen down. Vines, moss, and even trees seemed to cover everything, but they were a sickly brown instead of the usual green.

They weren't dead, though. The plants vibrated. It was slowly- only about one movement every three seconds- but it would travel all the way across his field of vision in a sort of wave. Said wave didn't seem to have an obvious starting point, but simply washed over in a massive pulse. At the very least, the source was far enough away to ignore for the moment.

Two notifications interrupted his thoughts, both equally foreboding.

 **The Mist has taken notice of you!**

 **The effects of [The Black Mist] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

 **"Fresh meat for the maw!"** a harrowing voice shrieked from somewhere behind him. Draga spun around, but the source was still hidden. It could be behind a tree, or inside one of the buildings. Perhaps masked by the mist itself.

All wrong, as it turned out, since a skull crashed into his jaw from below- having passed through the ground itself to get to him.

Draga recovered quickly, hopping backwards once to diffuse the impact. More cries sounded, though clearly further away, meaning he had a moment to deal with this one, and then hide?

That might have sounded cowardly, but he was a level 1 character against... Well... It didn't have any limbs- just a... floating ghost tarp? It ws difficult to describe as more than that Halloween joke, just lack and coated in ominous green flames.

 **[LVL9]**

 **Emissary** **Of The Mist**

The level alone would have made the fight difficult, but it had shown the ability to pass through the terrain. For all he knew, the same was true of his sword, but he still had to try.

In one fluid motion, Draga tore the steel from his inventory and sent a sidelong slash at the howling banshee. It screamed- but not in pain- as it barreled straight into him before the blade reached.

His back met the ground with a grunt, but Draga rolled with the motion, landing in a crouch. The Emissary came in again moments later. He met it with steel, crashing his sword down atop it. The specter seemed almost as surprised as him when it was cleaved in half, falling to the ground uselessly as it began to dissipate.

 **"No matter,"** it said, bizarrely calm about being killed. **"The maw stills hungers for you."**

 _This place seems awfully vague with its threats..._ Perhaps he was supposed to already know what the Maw was, but it was hardly fair to expect him to moments after landing. Its last words were further undermined by the chime of a notification that he'd leveled up twice from just that.

It took a moment for something to click- this was a holy sword, right? The description had called it both holy and legendary, while the name... Sverð af hvítum... Sword of white. He couldn't place why it made sense to him- perhaps it was some mechanic or skill, which had been blocked- but it did.

Useful, certainly. Learning languages- that is- not translating those three words.

The sounds of more incoming brought him back to reality. Draga spun, looking for cover somewhere, and found it in the form of a nearby stone temple.

Whatever door had been in place before was curiously absent, allowing him to barrel straight in and hopefully avoid being followed. To be safe, Draga wound his way around a corridor, finally slipping into one of the adjacent rooms and slamming the do-

Draga caught the door inches away from crashing shut and, giving a sigh of relief, let it shut with a small click.

Leaning back against the wall, Draga threw up his character page. Two levels- ten points to spend- and he had maybe thirty seconds to do it. More than enough, really, since he already know what would be most useful in that moment.

Dexterity nearly doubled, he used the remaining twenty-four seconds to check his skills again.

 **White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LVL4 EXP: 84.10% MP:50**

 **Sword Mastery (Passive) LVL9 EXP: 51.72% MP:0**

 **The Blind Fist (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 _Three down, fifty to go._

The skills themselves were pretty simplistic- giving him increased mobility and effectiveness with martial arts or blades. In the case of White Tiger's Lunge, both, since any and all strikes would benefit from increased speed.

Taking a breath, Draga spun, wood tearing apart as he broke out into the corridor.

Unsurprisingly, he was greeted by more spectral creatures which screamed something incoherent before charging.

It was almost too easy to duck past the first, cutting it apart with a horizontal slash which easily followed into the second. The third came from behind, knocking out his right knee and swooping around to impact his chest.

A miscalculation. He had one leg in the air, gutting his balance, except he was near the walls. All it took was an outreached hand and he was free to cut at it with impunity.

Two more levels earned, immediately dumped into Dexterity again, and Draga was off, racing back to the entrance to the temple.

Several more sought to stop him along the way, but found their speed eclipsed by his. The ability to pass through walls was just as useless, as the sounds they made- screaming or otherwise- gave their positions away.

The main chamber in the center was less forgiving. Where he was, at that time, had been thoroughly established, and several dozen of the creatures flooded in through various walls, corridors, and the ceiling.

 _Perhaps an experiment, then?_ He did have a few skills unlocked from the beginning- and he'd never bothered to read through exactly what they did.

 **Fire (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

Draga closed his eyes, inhaling through his nose. _Smell the flower._ He exhaled through his mouth. _Blow out the candle._

Red hot flames shot out in a cone, burning through the spirits and eating at the already rotting furniture that littered the room. He felt the heat- the raw intensity of it as he span, aiming it in all directions- but he was not burned by it. An effect of the skill, no doubt.

Fortunate, since he doubted the inferno he'd created would be pleasant without that.

Whatever was in this city would certainly know where he was by now, seeing as the tree growing into one wall was going up in smoke, so it was time to be somewhere else.

It took a moment to locate the exit, but, uh...

Well... It was occupied.

 **[LVL38]**

 **Hecarim, The Shadow Of War**

The demonic-looking centaur was fully armored in black plates, which covered his entire body, sans hooves. His eyes- which glowed an eiree yellow- were locked on his.

Yet Hecarim delayed his attack- and that was his mistake.

Most of Draga's skills were spells- which would imply a need for intelligence and wisdom in later levels. What better time to start than now?

The moment his intelligence hit twenty, white energy surged through him, and a familiar warmth pervaded his being. He didn't even need to look to guess which skill this was, though he would need to check later to figure out what else he'd gotten.

For now, the raw feeling of strength, speed, and endurance that enveloped his form would have to suffice.

Stone cracked as Draga Lunged, having already activated his Aura to double the boost it granted him, and sheer speed it afforded him was enough to reach Hecarim before he could properly react.

Properly being the key word. He still blocked the strike by placing his halberd, held in both hands, between Draga's outstretched palm and himself.

That wasn't enough, though, as it simply gave Draga a handhold with which to brace himself as he flipped his leg up and over, crashing it down atop Hecarims head. Metal caved, slightly, on impact, and Draga took the moment of surprise for what it was.

A chance to attack again.

The indent in Hecarims helmet acted as a foothold for him to flip over yet again, bringing the piece of armor up with him as he sailed behind the centaur. He didn't pass it, though, instead mounting him.

One of the best places to be when fighting someone on a horse was right behind him- and the same held true for a centaur. Moreso, in this case, as it let him slide his blade into the chinks of his armor, while forcing him to buck in an attempt to tear him off before retaliating.

That was the thought, at least, but Hecarim saw fit to prove him wrong. He spun his halberd around whipping it around and forcing Draga to duck down. That position left him unfortunately vulnerable when Hecarim shook his back violently, sending Draga flying away.

He spun in the air, flipping over himself backwards as he sailed out the door on a collision course with another building.

A single touch to the ground- one so slight but so real- was enough to stop that from happening. A quick Lunge, and he was spinning up towards the buildings roof instead, and Draga landed- a _little_ uncoordinated, to be honest- but he was very much alive and away from the demon horse.

He had time. That was the important thing, allowing him time to see what else he'd unlocked.

 **Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:4 MP: 0**

Sheer power and nothing else- not enough.

 **Mage Armor (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP: 50, 50 per 3 seconds**

 _Yeah... I wasn't even really hit, and he would have pancaked me into a building..._ Being able to take a hit was nice, but that particular skill wasn't going to accomplish much here. He needed something to take him down...

 **Cleanse (Active) LVL8 EXP: 92.00% MP:9200**

Something... Anything...

 **Mana Drain (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 _Dammit._

Nothing that would actually help him battle Hecarim, since stealing the former-mans mana- particularly at the rate he would have access to here- would not accomplish anything.

If not for unlocking his Aura again, the points would have been wasted entirely. As it was now, he was still left facing the centaur down like-

Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Draga pulled open his character page again, checking the MP value specifically.

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: None**

 **Title: None**

 **Level: LVL1**

 **HP: 2150**

 **MP: 21500**

 **Str: 10(43)**

 **Vit: 10(43)**

 **Dex: 30(129)**

 **Int: 20(86)**

 **Wis: 12(51.6)**

 **Luk: 10**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 6'2"**

 **Weight: 164**

 **Money: 0**

 **Status Effects**

He had so much of it- outright. With the elemental skills he started with...

Regardless, it was a better plan than trying to battle him directly- at least at his level.

The building quaked under his feet, a heavy impact down below sending shockwaves up. They didn't stop, and continued to worsen, over several seconds, but Draga was already gone.

Down below, Hecarim was destroy the supports to the building as he charged from one end to the other, on slowing down when he reached the other side and needed to turn around. A smart move, since it minimized the chance the building would fall on him.

It made a bit of sense that he didn't account for being struck by lightning.

 **Lightning (Passive) LVLMAX EXP MP:0**

Stone, in whatever form the city was crafted, rained down from above. Nerves misfiring- particularly within the equine regions of his centaur body- prevented him from getting up, even before multiple tons of rock fell atop his now unarmored head.

It was satisfying, but not enough- clearly. He hadn't earned any levels, after all.

The pile of rubble- despite its impressive size- parted as the Shadow of War forced his way out. He didn't seem particularly hurt, though the way he shook his head and struggled to locate him implied that he wasn't unaffected.

Good.

Draga took a breath, focusing his attention as he drew upon a third element. His specific task was more difficult, and it took a moment for his will to supplant that of nature, but the air obeyed his commands.

A vacuum formed around his target. Many would underestimate just what that meant. Anyone could survive in space- for a few seconds, anyway- and there was no way he could maintain this long enough for Hecarim to suffocate, much less with him already moving to escape the area.

There was just one key difference between here and space- it was a vacuum in the middle of the atmosphere.

The unbridled force of physics took hold, filling the space with the surrounding air. Unfortunately for Hecarim, that left the energy- which would normally burst outward after the air met in the middle- to hit him directly.

His armor actually took the blow rather well- merely crushing inwards on him. That... Did not bode well for the man himself, though. He didn't die- even through that- but he couldn't struggle against the metal entrapping him.

Hecarim spoke, then, for the first time since meeting him. **"Oh... I always said that life was fleeting, and told those I killed to embrace death..."** He chuckled sadly. **"I never wanted to visit oblivion."**

Lightning arced through the air, silencing him.

Growing stronger would only get harder the more he empathized with the monsters he was slaying.

More notifications rang in his ears, signalling his growth, but they went ignored for the moment. Instead, he looked around for more enemies. Fortunately, there were none that concerned him- just more Emissaries of the Mist flying in for their deaths.

He was free to check for loot. Annoyingly, there wasn't any- unless he wanted to take the more than thirteen feet long halberd. Given the weapon he had...

Pass.

What to upgrade with the new points, then? He'd leveled up six times, giving him thirty points to work with. Strength? He hadn't upgraded it, and clearly had a few skills in the list born from it, but physical strength wasn't really an issue. His sword cleaved through most of the things he'd encountered- with Hecarim an obvious exception with his armor- and there was no reason to think he'd be fighting anything not vulnerable to a holy blade while he stayed here.

Vitality looked useful, but the health gain wasn't really something he wanted. Taking a few blows was less useful than avoiding them entirely, which could be done both through ranged attacks or by evasion.

He didn't really need to unlock more magic spells, did he? He had the elemental affinities, and those gave him access to quite the variety of skills, so long as he had the creativity to come up with them.

Speed, then. If he was to grow stronger, he'd need to start hunting his enemies down, as fast as possible.

Twenty points fell into place, unlocking more skills, while the remaining ten fell back into intelligence. Most of his skills were magic, after all.

 **L** **ightning Shell (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:500, 500 per minute**

 **Electronic Nerves (Passive) LVLMAX MP:10, 10 per second**

 **Lightning Aura (Passive and Active) LVLMAX MP:5000, 500 per second beyond 1 minute**

 **White Tiger's Tread (Active & Passive) LVL3 EXP: 8.15% 98, 25 per second.**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

Speed, reflexes, speed and cost reduction, speed, and a universal damage buff. Not a bad turn out, especially with sixth skill he'd unlocked.

 **Extrasensory Perception (Active & Passive) LVL19 EXP: 15.59% MP:200, 200 per minute**

A single skill, but one of great value and use in the moment. The instant it was activated, Draga's senses expanded, allowing him to take in more of the world around him. He could see through walls, and in more clarity, but also hear more distant or quiet sounds, and even feel the temperature of the buildings around him.

Complete awareness, almost, yet there was no overwhelming rush of information like one would expect. Total clarity, which made sense, given the skill it was born from.

It wasn't just that, though. The range of... I suppose you would call them colors was wider. He could see the heat slowly leaving Hecarim's body, but also the blood that leaked from him as though it was under a black light. The rest just seemed to be dark, which made some sense. It's not like he had an X-Ray machine aimed at him, and the other was likely radio waves.

Odd that there weren't any, given that he could see a group of skyscrapers in the distance, but he was in a ruin. Perhaps the technology was lost, and he'd have to go somewhere else to find it.

Barely mattered now, though, as Draga focused on the task at hand. He scanned the city, searching the dilapidated buildings for more targets.

He found three.

 **[LVL42]**

 **Thresh, The Chain Warden**

 **[LVL58]**

 **Yorick, Shepard of Souls**

 **[LVL?]**

 **Mordekaiser, The Iron Revenant**

 _What a nice boss rush._

Based on the power level of the others, he'd hazard that Mordekaiser was in the high sixties or low seventies. With all three in tandem, he was looking at quite the potential XP gain. Of course, there was the obvious one to start with.

Draga sighed, looking back to the temple he had just trashed. Thresh was several floors below it, and a plethora of traps- which would be almost effortless to avoid- and level 10-12 ghouls stood in his way.

Lightning arced around Draga, the light emphasizing his reactivated Aura, as he entered a running stance.

* * *

His arrival at the base of the final staircase was as eventful as he had expected.

That was to say, the ground cratered underneath him as the dying screams of several dozen underground denizens gave their final breath.

It hardly took any effort for Thresh to notice him. The former man, now composed of a pale green flame, was armed with a chain sickle and weighted lantern. An unusual weapon- certainly- but Draga wasn't particularly worried about that.

With his speed as ridiculous as it was, the initial throw of the bladed hook was sidestepped with contemptuous ease. The second attack, given a whole second later, was an equally ineffectual horizontal swing.

 _Speed does seem like a serious weakness around here._

Even Hecarim, who was a clearly magically enhanced centaur, was no faster than a horse would be at his size. Maybe slower, given the heavy armor he'd worn.

Thresh was obviously strong, with the way he casually threw around a massive chain. It didn't even succumb to gravity- such was the force it endured as he swung it around, carving up walls as he tried in vain to land something.

Perhaps the next opponent would have a counter to it- or the next world, at least. This would get incredibly unsatisfying if he could literally run circles around every enemy he came across.

For now, though, the Sword of White swung forth, and came to occupy the same space as the man's misshapen skull.

That... Didn't seem to bother him, that much, all told. In fact, he actually laughed, a wicked thing that seemed to echo, even before the sound bounced off of the stone walls of the room. The amusement in it was real, and carried into his tone when he spoke.

 **"How charming,"** he said, taking a step back. **"You people really know how to impress me, but... I'm afraid I'll be taking that glow from you."**

His Aura? Yeah- no. He could remember losing it once- the vague yet vivid pain of it- and he would never allow it to happen again.

The next attack was slightly harder to dodge- on account of spectral walls rising up in a pentagram around them- but the quick application of White Tiger's Lunge had his feet against the ceiling.

Then, with a smile, Draga called upon fire to bathe his opponent.

As expected, it did little to no damage, but it did as he wanted- blinding him.

Draga crashed to the ground next to one of the new walls, and he used it as another surface to shoot towards Thresh. In the moment of vulnerability created by the orange glow, his sword plunged into the undead man's chest and swung up.

Thresh laughed again, making a move to attack Draga while the weapon was caught in his jaw, but it cup off abruptly as his nameplate vanished from view.

 **"But... How?"**

No answer was given to him, as the ghostfire that held his skeleton aloft dissipated. There was an answer, though, and one that Draga was grateful for.

Broken video game mechanics.

Regardless of Thresh's innate being, he still had a 'health bar' of sorts, which would drop when taking damage. Even if he couldn't die in the traditional sense, he was willing to experiment that the game would override it.

And it did, leaving Draga with three more levels and a new target.

 _Here I come, Yorick._

* * *

 **Ah, Runeterra. Land of the free, home of the archipelago filled with dangerous monsters and the worst humanity has to offer. Truly, a great vacation spot.**

 **So, I do have plans a little beyond just slaughtering the native people of the Shadow Isles, but it is an important part. Yorick will play a part in those plans as well, and exactly how will have to wait for next chapter.**

 **I would normally explain it happily, but a spider bit my right hand and it's swelling. I can still write, but... It's not exactly pleasant.**

 **Before I go, though, I must apologize to anyone who read the pre-edited version of last chapters note. The poll wasn't put up, and I said that it was about the wrong sequence here. We're voting on the next world he goes to- not this one. Total mistake on my part- I'm sorry.**

 **But with that, I must return to the Rift. Not for this- obviously- but because I finally hit Gold and I'll be damned if I fall out of it.**

 **Ciao.**


	72. Worlds-2

Now that he had a moment to himself, Draga had to admit that the place had its charms. Sure, angry spirits dedicated the entirety of their theoretically infinite existence to killing you, but can you blame them? By the extent to which nature had reclaimed the city, this region was clearly ancient- several hundreds of years old, minimum- and their culture had just been wiped away.

And there was still evidence of that culture, besides the temples he'd found. Articles of clothing- particularly the more durable fabrics a working class would typically favor- were scattered across the city, and their designs hinted at a regal society. Perhaps one where blunt labor had been abolished entirely, since he could remember the sheer number magic artifacts within Thresh's temple.

 _Ugh..._ he groaned, remembering the aftermath of that particular battle. It had taken almost an hour to sort through them all, and the unfortunate truth was that most of them were relics for a reason. Many flatly didn't work anymore- whatever had powered them ceasing to do so- and quite a few did things that were useless, in the modern age.

Rocks that shoot fire? A rod that can call down lightning from pre-existing storms? How about an infinite ball of yarn?

He had actually pocketed the last one, on the off chance it ever became relevant, but the point still stood.

What, then, did he take from Thresh's lair?

The lantern, complete with the chain sickle, first of all. It was heavy- ridiculously so, to the point where Draga could barely lift the thing, much less throw it around like Thresh had been able to- but he didn't plan to use it as a weapon. The item description he'd gotten from Observing it explained that the lantern stores souls, and could also channel the power of them for casting a specific range of magic, like necromancy. He didn't have any of those skills, but the item itself was listed as having a few thousand entrapped within, so it wasn't like he'd have to work to use it once he did get them.

Second, he grabbed an amulet that had been kept in a glass case. It was apparently unnamed throughout history, as the name for it was blank, but the effect... Very useful, to say the least. It, uh... Let him steal stats.

There was no way to level it up, or anything, but it just flatly reduced all 'enemy' stats by 10 and gave them to him.

Against one really strong opponent? Not that amazing. Against an army, though? Hoo boy.

Speaking of army, Yorick seemed to have just that. Meter tall ghouls- shells of their former selves- obeyed his commands and kept watch of the temple he took residence in. He wasn't in it now, though, and- sure enough- Draga caught sight of quite a number of ghouls throughout this part of the city.

Each level 19, and with the names of their human selves absent, they went about their tasks. Four guarded him, twelve his temple, and the rest- an uncountable number, since many left his vision range entirely or were obscured by the sheer number of walls in the way- seemed to search the ruins. For what...

Well, who better to ask?

Draga made his approach slowly, making sure to steer clear of both enemy vision and hearing. The Emissaries of the Mist were ignoring the ghouls, but they were also a threat, in the sense that their detection would lead to Yorick finding him.

That's where the third relic- of actual value, anyway- that he took came into play. It was a small little thing- a ring to join the still mysterious Kembar- but its effect was oh so useful.

Short range teleportation. Silent, near instant, and... Not cheap, really, but at a cost that could be afforded outside of combat. It had a max range of only ten feet, and he still had to guarantee he wasn't going to teleport into any objects, but it would likely be the single most useful item he'd seen- including the ones that no longer worked. Oh- you can fly? Can you use your magic wings to dodge a blade to your throat?

The price was still rather significant, though. It was vague, and seemed to vary based on distance traveled, whether I was skipping space with objects in the way, and- most interesting- whether or not I was using Acceleration. Unfortunately, that particular dial only seemed to raise it, for whatever reason.

Regardless, it averaged 8000 MP. Considering the amount he had... That was a lot, but workable. Annoyingly, the name was just dumb. Some pile of cartilage on the artifact naming department decided it would be a great idea to call it Zero.

There were so many puns, or references to mythology, or even just describing it as a Lesser Ring of Teleportation. What did Zero even mean, in this context?

Eventually, he decided it just didn't matter. Whoever named the damn thing was long since dead, so no karmic justice could be had. The matter not exactly settled, but at least put on the back burner for when he could theoretically travel back in time, he returned to the task at hand.

Yorick was slowly making his way through a graveyard, possibly in search of more corpses to raise, and his task was only emphasized by the giant spade on his back. It was black, just like every other bloody thing in this place, and the comically sized blade of it implied a secondary purpose: combat.

It would be unwieldy, at least in terms of speed, but there seemed to be no sluggishness in his movements. Neither it nor his strange clothing/armor hybrid seemed to limit his movement, and while his expression was blank to the point of looking almost bored, he still moved with purpose.

This was a practiced individual, and while he was almost assuredly slower than Draga, he had friends. The ghouls weren't particularly strong, and would certainly die in one hit, but the number of them could pose an issue. Cutting the head of the snake was clearly the better option, and one he was unusually well equipped to do.

Draga crept along the roof of a nearby building, making his way to the edge in order to peer down on the gravedigger directly. He was distracted, seemingly talking to himself about some task. A leader, perhaps?

A scan of the area turned up no one else- even Mordekaiser had left his detection range a bit ago.

Odds were good, then, that Yorick wouldn't receive outside help before the fight ended.

Slowly, Draga took a breath, watching Yorick in silent anticipation. A single pause- a momentary distraction- and Draga would crash down atop him. Seconds past, feeling far longer than they really were, before the burly man started to turn around.

It was enough.

Draga shot down the exterior wall of the building in a blur. Lightning arced across his form, emphasizing the light of his Aura, as a number of skills came together to break the sound barrier.

To say he hit like a truck would be a grave understatement, pun absolutely intended. Eighty kilos wasn't all that much weight, all things considered, but the sheer amount of energy carried by such a mass moving at the speed of sound was enough to drive Yorick several feet into the tarmac.

The attack cost a lot- both in HP and MP from him too- but the rewards seemed to outweigh the price. Draga withdrew his sword, bringing it up to end it before the ghouls could intervene.

Oh, how wrong the assumption that Yorick needed help was. A black globule- visibly distinct from the mist that still permeated, but still clearly a part of it- was thrown directly into his eyes, blinding him. Not in the traditional way- since he could still literally see through viscous fluid- but in a vastly less pleasant way.

Pain.

Whatever it was, it burned through flesh, eating away at his eyes and skin alike, causing him to flail around and tear at it with his hands in an attempt to remove it. The injuries themselves faded as quickly as they were made, but that hardly helped when the cause was still latched onto his face.

Only a second passed before the panic vanished, which helped a little. Unfortunately, it, combined with his ability to see through objects, also let him see as a new notification appeared.

 **Through harsh exposure to The Black Mist, you have acquired the status effect [The Harrowing] (Low)!**

Draga growled, a sound which was quickly overshadowed by an explosion as flames- momentarily trapped within his gullet- burst outward. Whatever remnant of the caustic gel remained were eaten away at by a more precise application of fire, though to little effect. Small spots of it latched onto his skin- not even burning away when the skin itself was.

The status effect itself, he supposed.

Yorick hadn't been idle during that distraction, a fact that was revealed as a shovel blade was lowered to Draga's neck. For whatever reason, though, he hesitated to cut down- which was his mistake, as it was but a moments thought for Draga to suddenly be somewhere else.

Above him, specifically, and driving a sword into his right- and dominant- arm.

Several ghouls had already lept at him in that instant, but they met air as Draga flipped backwards while sliding out his sword. The moment it took them to land, and for Yorick to recover, allowed Draga to reed the new effect in detail.

 **[The Harrowing] (Low)**

 **An ancient spell, cast centuries ago by a grieving king, plagues the Shadow Isles with undeath. All who near are consumed, losing their spirit to the Mist and leaving their mortal coil behind to rot.**

 **Reduces max HP, max MP, HP regen, and MP regen based on level of infection. Current: 7%.**

 _Ooh..._ That wasn't a problem in the moment, but it would be real quick. Because of how his MP and HP regen were based on his max, it wasn't even a 7% reduction, but closer to 13.5%. This effect would taper off, as it scaled, but...

He needed to rid himself of it as soon as possible, and avoid taking any attacks like that in the future. It didn't take a genius to imply that, if he couldn't purge it, he would end up dead.

 _Actually, wasn't one of my skills called Cleanse?_

Sure enough, one was. Low level- and expensive as all hell, being more than half his current full mana- but already unlocked. It was cast once- and only once, for it was all he could afford.

The effect was instant. Despite how he couldn't feel the drain itself, he did feel it when it was released, like a thorn had been torn out. There was an instant of pain, but it faded as all pain does, leaving a feeling of numb contentment.

Strange, then, that the only physical effect was the discoloration on his face disappearing.

Equally strange was the way Yorick froze in surprise upon seeing that- just stopping mid motion as he had been going in for another attack. This could not also be said for his ghouls, however, which lept after him again.

They were handily dealt with by a wide swing of his sword, followed by leaping onto the wall of a nearby building.

Draga didn't have any way to float- or the ability to cling to walls, which would also be pretty useful- but he did have strength sufficient to stab his fingers into the miscelanious stone that the eleven story building was made of.

Large though their jumps may be, the ghouls couldn't reach him from ground level, which gave Draga a chance to breath and recover his mana. In turn, it would let Yorick prepare some countermeasure, but the trade-off seemed worth it. Thanks to his elemental abilities, and the teleportation ring, it was doubtful he could produce anything he couldn't escape, at the very least.

Unfortunately... His mana regen wasn't actually that amazing. Even ignoring the cost of his active skills, like Aura, which he would pretty much never disable, he only regenerated 15% of his MP a minute.

He had a lot of mana, so that was still a decent amount, but he needed more. Not regen, though- but mana itself. He had a skill, still locked, called Greater Mana Capacity. Presumably, it would be acquired by upgrading his intelligence too, which would increase his mana on its own.

15 points fell away, boosting his base Intelligence to 45, but-

Well, he got a few more of the lightning related abilities, but not that. Perhaps if it hit 50... _One more level, then._

As it stood, he wasn't going to be able to take down Yorick. He seemed relatively unharmed by his first attack, and while he could certainly repeat it a few times, there was no evidence it would ever work. Perhaps if he could actually see health bars... Thresh had proven that they existed, but presumably HP regen and damage reduction both existed within that framework.

Perhaps a sustained lightning attack? The price listed for Lightning Aura wasn't actually what he was paying, presumably a link to the lightning affinity he had. Even if he would survive the attack in an HP sense, someone with a fried brain wouldn't be able to really stop him from killing them.

Assuming that shock alone didn't kill them. Reality and the game could be mutually compatible, meaning that death in either way would affect his targets. Gamer's Body might change that to him, but...

It was something to test, and where better to experiment than the middle of battle?

Draga raised his free hand in his target's direction, electricity crackling over his hand. Pale Lightning shot forward in a straight beam- the arcing ladder completely absent from its movement- and it touched down an imperceptibly small moment later. Unfortunate, then, that it accomplished nothing, and Yorick even took a step forward as it struck.

Not to attack, though, but to raise a hand in the universal gesture of 'stop'.

So he did, watching cautiously from above as Yorick made to speak. He was surprisingly human in his vocal tones, though with a gravely nature that seemed... Unnatural.

"You can purge The Mist." A redundant opener, given how he clearly did so just a few seconds ago, but Draga didn't interrupt. "I need your help. All of this-" he gestured broadly at the world around him, presumably referring to the entirety of the Shadow Isles. "- could be solved by your power."

 _Damn, really?_ The skill was useful- sure- but it seemed fairly limited in nature. The description of it, which Draga took a moment to pull up, mentioned that it only cleared a portion of a status effect, and that probably wouldn't work on ghosts, ghouls, or even the Mist as a whole.

Probably was an important part of that phrasing, though. He didn't know- and even if it would be ineffective now, he could always grind it up. It was worth a shot, at least, if he assumed it wasn't a trick on Yoricks part.

A shame he couldn't detect emotions, or lies, directly. The deformed musculature of the mans face didn't even look capable of expressing honesty or dishonesty on his face, which only complicated matters further.

Was paranoia worth losing a potential ally? Sure, he was flatly losing out on experience by not killing Yorick, but there could be a quest involved in helping the Shadow Isles, not to mention the help he could acquire in battling Mordekaiser. Experience was generally exponential, meaning he wouldn't be losing a whole lot in the end, even if there wasn't a quest, so long as they actually could beat Morde...

It would be worth it, then.

Draga watched him for another moment- his eyes focused on the man, but his awareness expanding to the various ghouls that had been attacking. They were still, waiting on the two of them.

Another moment passed before Draga nodded down to him. By simply pulling his fingers from the stone, Draga rapidly fell, impacting the ground with enough force to dent the road. "This is a two way arrangement. I help you, and you help me."

He seemed only too happy to agree.

It wasn't actually a pretty image. It looked almost painful for the man to smile, though try he did, and he was rewarded by the slightest curl at the edge of his lips.

A sign of agreement, at least. For now, that was enough, and when Yorick turned to lead him somewhere, Draga had no problems following behind.

* * *

Now that he was afforded a chance to truly examine Yorick, a number of things stood out. He'd long since recognized that he was deformed- whether naturally or, vastly more likely, by the effects of The Harrowing.

Most of them were internal, and thereby difficult to see with a normal set of eyes. Fortunately, he had no such limitations, and could break down the structure of his internal organs with a thought. Visually- obviously. If he could pulverize the dudes heart at any time, this whole job would be a whole lot easier.

Speaking of, his heart beat was exceedingly slow. While an ordinary person had 60 to 100 beats per minute, he had... He had 12. Adding to that, he barely seemed to breath- outside of when he spoke, as he still needed to expel air for it. More than an ordinary human, actually.

And human he was, or at least used to be. While he seemed to be lingering between living and undead, he still had the same internal body structure that anyone should have. Hell- he had food still in his intestines, though everyone was better off not knowing exactly what it was. Draga didn't recognize what the meat was from, but besides ghouls and rodents, he didn't see a lot of living things lying about.

Thank Tet that he didn't need to eat himself.

There was more to Yorick, though. That black substance he threw earlier seemed to linger on his skin, primarily on his back where he was unable to reach. Even with the shovel, his hunched back prevented him from getting at it.

Not that removing it was really an option. Now that he could look back on it, Yorick had pulled from the edge of the stuff in order to throw that last attack, and it had done precious little to stop it from growing back over the newly revealed skin.

It wasn't hurting him- at least not in any obvious way- but it... It spoke.

Really cryptically, too, and with the same unexplained echo that the Emissaries from before had- except that, here, it sounded more like multiple figures saying the same thing at the same time.

They were quiet now, probably in response to him, which didn't seem to bother Yorick any. If he was able to express minor pleasantries, Draga felt confident he would have, but the silence that persisted as they walked was nice enough.

But he did have questions.

"So... Who are you exactly?" Observe had produced precious little, which was something he would need to look into in the future, but curiosity was a powerful thing. "I know your name is Yorick, and that you're around two hundred years old, but... That's kind of it."

"Who am I?" he seemed to ponder aloud. "I am... The last of my order. A monk- from before The Ruined King."

A monk? He did not look the part- though that likely wasn't his fault. It was readily apparent that the Shadow Isles had been corrupted, himself included, though... He was less affected...

Draga's eyes washed over him again, searching for anything different about him. He didn't find anything in him, but a pendant- one he'd ignored in his earlier examinations, since it was just a near-empty vial of water- took his attention. Perhaps it was special? Some kind of holy water, perhaps?

There should be a source, then. Some place where he'd drawn it from.

His senses suddenly warned him of something up ahead, pulling him from his thoughts. He'd kept Extrasensory Perception active continuously, as its ability to see was unparalleled even amongst the beings of Disboard, but he still needed to pay attention in order to view things clearly.

Something that pulled him directly, then, had to be pretty abnormal. This... Was definitely that, but it wasn't something he could see.

That was the thing, though. It was darkness- pure emptiness, even amongst the other spectrums of vision he had access to. A pit in his sight- large enough to match entire rooms from the Palace- and the structure surrounding it seemed to imply a water basin.

Ah...

There was a source- and that was probably what he had to fix.

* * *

 **No Author's Note this time- just have a good one.**


	73. Worlds-3

**Being the glorious ray of sunshine and happiness that I am, the rewrite has actually been started already. I won't be posting the new chapter version on this story- instead being on an official rewrite- but that won't actually happen right now anyway.**

 **The plan is still to release it on New Years, just as this story should be finished at midnight of the same day.**

 **Regardless, for anyone who is actually interested in said rewrite, it will at least be out to the end of Environment, but more likely Sanity, when it is released.** **This will not change the schedule for Worlds and whatever I decide to call the finale, however, so those with little interest in the rewrite have nothing to worry about.**

 **And now I can't think of a transition, so...**

* * *

"Are you okay?" Yorick asked, probably about the fact that Draga had stopped in the middle of the road and looked on in shock at... Nothing in particular, at least from his perspective. It would be unreasonable for anyone to really anticipate that he could see something underground more than a few hundred meters away. He hadn't even really seen it directly- since his actual vision was limited to one particular area he focused on- but rather some instinct that warned him that it was horrifically dangerous.

Fortunately, Draga was nothing but eloquent, so his recovery went off without a hitch.

"B-wah?" he uttered, turning to face the burly man.

Okay... Not his best.

Yorick was as fairly unimpressed as well, but chose not to comment on it. "I would say it looked like you'd seen a ghost, but..."

Draga chuckled, weakly smiling at him. "A joke, huh? You must be in a good mood." He nodded to that, though his expression still remained neutral. Understandable, given the lack of use the ancient monk would have for such things over the course of centuries in a city of the dead.

The smile on _his_ face quickly faded anyway, as Draga looked back towards the building in question. It was a more elaborate temple- several stories tall, and with three basement levels- the bottom containing the pool of liquid darkness. It wasn't the one Yorick had set up his home in, but signs of his presence were clear across the entire building.

Dust was a big part of that. Most of the buildings here, at least on the inside, were absolutely coated in the stuff. Only two rooms of the temple were really clean; one was, obviously, the room with the giant black reality tumor. The other took a moment to process, but from the samples of the stuff kept in glass containers, it seemed to be a makeshift laboratory.

Whatever else the temple was used for was seemingly irrelevant. While footsteps were still placed into the dust layering the floor, it was clear he never used the rooms, and nothing seemed particularly useful among them.

Except for a library.

It wasn't particularly large- comprising only a single room and three bookshelves- but the size was pretty much irrelevant. The nature of the skillbook system meant it would inevitably have something useful for him.

 _I mean, really, how irresponsible would it be of me_ not _to loot the place dry?_

Needless to say, that put the jump back in his step.

* * *

"This land used to be a glorious place," Yorick said as they arrived near the entrance.

Draga looked up at him for a moment, and hummed in reply. He could see it- at least, in so far as he could see the structures. The people- the culture- had long since been wiped clean.

"The Blessed Isles, as many called it- a string of islands rich with magic, knowledge, and resources. It had no equal in healing magic, and that is what drew in a king long ago." He sighed, looking towards the hazy gray sky as if for answers. "A sacred spring of water was the culmination of these things- able to heal all wounds and cure all diseases. It was not, however, able to cure death..."

That was... Curiously specific. It took a moment to click, but when it did... "The king tried to bring someone back to life with the spring, didn't he?"

Yorick gave a solemn nod, before gesturing for them to head inside. They did, as he continued. "The spring tried to heal his deceased wife, and... I wouldn't say it succeeded, but she isn't dead anymore."

Draga didn't bother asking what that meant, given what he'd seen regarding the undead abominations that littered this place. Instead, he asked something much simpler. "Where is she now?"

The fact that he didn't say was answer enough, but an off-putting one at the very least. He could see decently far, and in all directions, but there wasn't all that much harm anyone could realistically do in this literal ghost town anyway. The far more frightening idea was that she was out, condemning more of the world into an eternity of undeath.

At the very least, it meant he was safe within the building. It didn't even have any of the gheists within, which he was glad for. They wouldn't be hard to kill, by any stretch, but the effects of the tainted spring were still unknown. What if it empowered them somehow?

"Would Cleansing the pool undo the spell, then?"

Yorick mulled that over for a moment before shrugging. "I don't think it would restore the land on its own, but it should undo The Harrowing and free this land from its corrupting influences. Even if it takes a few more decades, I should be able to purge the filth on my own."

 _Huh..._ "Won't you stop being immortal, though? If you're cleansed, I mean."

His eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Oh..." He blinked a few times, looking down to his hands. He tried to contract his fingers into a fist, but the sheer bulk of them prevented it. "I... I hadn't given myself much thought, in the last two hundred years..." His hand clenched harder, long nails drawing darkened blood from his palm. "I'm going to die, in the end, a-aren't I?"

Draga would have closed his eyes to shy away from him, but it wouldn't have actually change anything, and Yorick definitely needed someone about now. Two whole centuries of near complete isolation, sans for the voiceless or openly malicious undead that controlled the Shadow Isles.

"You could remain afflicted, gradually transforming until your body becomes truly undead." Draga sighed, staring directly into his pearl white eyes. "Or, I could heal you after we Cleanse the spring, allowing you to become human again, but condemning you to die sometime shortly after the Shadow Isles is cleaned." Yorick couldn't pale- at least not visibly- but his particular set of senses let him see the man's heartbeat race. Or, race faster than his version of normal, bringing it up to about the level of a sleeping human.

"Can't you... Would you stay? Heal me _after_ my job is complete?" He was pleading now, which left him in a rather odd position given the sheer size difference. "I want to see the return of the Blessed Isles!"

An earnest request from a man that had sacrificed everything to save his people. It should have been agony to decline, but due to the effects of Gamer's Mind, it was difficult to even feel sympathy for him. He couldn't do it; such a task would take a few decades, perhaps less with his help along the way, but that would still be time wasted- time not spent growing stronger- saving more people- ending a monumental threat.

Yorick seemed to pick up the answer before Draga could give it to him, and he merely hung his head with a somber 'oh'.

Leaving him to think it over, Draga made his way down through the basement floors of the building. Despite this being his first visit, he had no problem navigating to the room with his goal.

It was just as dark in person, though strangely different. Where it was still and unmoving from a distance, it now had small waves moving in his direction, as if the water itself was seeking him out. While terrifying in its implication, said pull was still visibly weak, so he wasn't particularly worried about it. The movement changed how it looked- in his empowered sight, anyway- as the light distorted around it.

Calmly, Draga stepped up to the edge of the pool. It stilled once more, reacting to his approach, and remained motionless as he lowered a hand towards it.

He was careful not to touch the liquid- and would have been, even if he hadn't been exposed to it during the earlier fight with Yorick- though he did need close proximity in order to use his skill.

Over nine thousand MP gathered in the palm of his hand, glowing a bright white, and the liquid visibly shied away from it. Unsuccessfully, however, as fluid dynamics prevented more than the slightest changes in its location. Then, as the white light fell away from his flesh, it sank into the water to purify it.

Draga wasn't using the actual skill, Cleanse, since the ability itself only worked with direct contact. Having the skill gave him intimate knowledge of its workings, however, and the ability to manifest his Aura outside of his body was sufficient for this.

Only about a cup was affected by this particular casting, but that was still progress. Or, at least, it was for the three seconds it took for the light to dim, leaving it to get consumed by the black again anyway and invalidating more than half of his mana.

 _This is gonna be harder than I thought..._

The difficulty was less from separating the liquid, since the samples he'd seen in the other room more than proved it could both be done and contained, but moreso in storing it after the Cleansing. Mathematically, it would only take about half a day to deal with the entire pool, but there was nowhere to put it. This was the lowest floor, so he couldn't just throw it down a set of stairs and be done with it, and he didn't have any skills suitable to creating large holes in the floor.

Perhaps if he got an earth affinity? He had yet to check the library, and while the skill would likely be clumsy and inefficient, he was hardly asking for a perfect structure, or even one as well defined as the pool he was drawing from. It just needed to be big.

Despite his impressive eyesight, the first Draga registered of Yorick's arrival on the floor was the sound of his weighty footstep on the stone floor. They continued into the same room as him, the man pausing just after entering the room.

"How is it?" he asked, gesturing to the pool pointlessly. "Can you fix it?"

Draga sighed, not turning towards him, instead staring into the inky black. "Yes and no. I need somewhere to put the clean water." His attention shifted, inspecting him for a moment- particularly the massive shovel strapped to his back. The material was difficult to determine, given that the corruption that took over his outfit had also ran along the blade, but it was definitely some kind of hard metal. "Can you dig a pit for me- in one of the other rooms?"

He almost laughed at that, slipping the spade into his arms. "Easily," he answered, adding emphasis by shattering the stone with the tool's blade. "Though, it will take some time."

Of course- he expected nothing less. He did have a few other things to do, though.

Looting a library and killing a giant animated armor.

 _Why can't I just fight an ordinary dude? First a centaur, then a god damn ghost, and now a living suit of blackened steel._ While the memories were still a bit vague, he could remember a lot of utterly bizarre creatures in his earlier lives too- ones that put anything on Disboard to shame. City sized birds, giant spider-like creatures with bladed limbs, and pretty much everything in that room where he'd met that orc.

Now if only he had a choice in the matter...

Regardless, Draga left to steal and entire library's worth o- _leave Yorick to make the new basin_ , he corrected, wiping away some nonexistent sweat from his forehead as he made his way into that particular room by complete coincidence.

The second he entered the room, he knew how useful it would be. These were clearly books on the subject of magic that Yorick had been gathering, rather than ones the monastery- as he now identified the building- would have had on their own. They were likely an attempt on the former monks part to undo The Harrowing, but the books themselves were about a range of wildly different subjects, which only served to benefit _him_ more.

There was just one small problem...

 **You cannot learn this skill. Required: Int 50**

 **You cannot learn this skill. Required: Int 50, Wis 40**

 **You cannot learn this skill. Required: Int 50, Luk 25**

 **You cannot learn this skill. Required: Wis 50**

 **You cannot learn this skill. Required: Str 30, Vit 30, Int 50, Wis 50**

It just went on and on. Despite the fact that almost 80% of the books here were skillbooks, he could use literally none of them. They all required at least 50 in either Intelligence or Wisdom, sometimes both, with some miscellaneous requirements in there for good measure.

Even worse, some of the skills required having certain others that already had their own requirements or- in one particularly annoying case- the prerequisite wasn't even present amongst the several shelves worth of books.

Apparently his other task came first, something which irked him to no end. Having a few dozen new skills would be pretty useful against a relatively unknown opponent...

At least he'd have them after. Given the nature of the Shadow Isles and his need to fight stronger opponents, it seemed likely that he'd get a portal to another world then. While most of the skills looked like active skills, meaning their stacking abilities were limited, they were certainly going to come in handy then.

Draga sighed, throwing all of the skillbooks into his Inventory without a word. Yorick was close enough to shout down to, but... Did he really want the help?

With the ring of teleportation and his sheer speed, he could almost definitely escape from Mordekaiser should he prove too strong to defeat. If he was defeatable, however, then sharing the XP would only weaken him in the long run. There was nothing stopping him from getting Yorick to help after, either...

That, and he still needed to dig the hole for him, which he clearly wouldn't be able to do while helping him in combat almost a mile away.

 _I'll be back... This won't be another Akilahara._

Man, wasn't that an old memory? A few years, it felt like, and it very well might have been thanks to time manipulation. He'd left them to di- Well, no, the planet was pretty much dead anyway, but he'd still just abandoned it with an army of alien creatures coating the surface of the worlds husk.

Not exactly heroic, and guilt was near impossible to feel due to the influence of Gamer's Mind. Nearly all negative emotion was cut out, or at least muted to the point it couldn't influence his decisions. It was a fact he was glad for, all told, but it... Made him less human, in a way. If that was what it took to save everyone, though, who was he to complain?

The air crackled around him, animated both by the lightning that formed around him and the wind he unleashed around him. Flames formed and died, killed by the lack of fuel and the swiftly moving torrents, but the heat rolled off of him in waves. It was easy- relaxing, even- to surround himself in the elements. It was like another Aura, which made sense, given that he literally had a Lightning Aura active in that moment.

Power coursed through him, as a silent reminder both of what he could and had to do.

 _Onwards and forwards._

* * *

It was almost too easy to track down Mordekaiser, even though he'd long since left Draga's sensory range.

Following a path of destruction was rarely hard, and the man was courteous enough to leave a literal trail of metal behind, in a way that seemed erratic at best. It was like a storm of shards had whipped through the streets, leaving discarded scraps behind wherever it went.

And, of course, Mordekaiser was at the center of it when he found it.

He wasn't alone, either, though he wasn't fighting anything of particular note- just the Emissaries of the Mist. They were everywhere here- in numbers that only seemed reasonable given that the buildings implied this region was a residential district.

Mordekaiser didn't seem particularly bothered by them, and barely gave them more than a hearty laugh for their efforts. Not that he blamed them, honestly, seeing as they were practically killing themselves in their attempts to get at him. It was almost embarrassing how easily they were slain, given that he had actually be threatened by them in the beginning.

That wasn't exactly fair, given the level difference, but the comparison was still there.

Such was the past, however, and there was precious little time to spend on it. Instead, he focused on Mordekaiser. He didn't have a body, exactly, which raised a number of questions about how he worked.

His senses were the obvious thing to check first. He could clearly see and hear, given that he turned to look at the howling banshees that flew into his metal maelstrom. The many others just didn't seem possible for him to have, all told.

He didn't even have a skeleton inside his armor, which was... Odd, to say the least. He had a soul- and a visible one too, though only through Draga's particular eyes- and it seemed like the logical thing to target. Assuming that was possible, of course. None of his skills actually did that, and he had none that interacted with souls that weren't his in any way.

Trial and error, then? It was risky, given the level difference between the two, but it's not like he had any real-

Draga threw himself to the side on instinct alone. Stone cracked- dust and shrapnel flying in all directions as the floor was torn through from below. It wasn't Morde- that much was incredibly obvious even before he looked up to the nameplate above the newest enemy.

 **[LVL63]**

 **Elise, The Spider Queen**

The gigantic black widow was actually ignored in that moment, as Draga checked back to Mordekaiser.

He was looking in their exact direction.

 _Fuck._

* * *

 **Guten Tag. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Fickle Things, and I wanted to make a quick story suggestion to anyone who likes the writing style of Coeur Ar'Alan. While 'The Obsidian Pen' is not on the same level, in terms of the writing quality itself, the story A Hawk's Plight is still pretty good, and exceptionally long as well.**

 **I've been reading through it myself, and actually enjoying it to the same level I enjoyed the more mundane parts of The Games We Play. It's not a Gamer fic, unfortunately, but it's still pretty dope.**

 **Anyway, I only have twenty-five minutes to write this note- which is clearly not enough time, I mean, god, look at all these words- but it's also late on a school night. Despite being a transcendent immortal, the sandman still comes unfortunately frequently, so I'm gonna have to let you go.**

 **Before I do, however, I need to remind you all of the poll on my profile page with regards to the next world Draga enters. Nobody has voted yet, and seeing as there is only one more chapter before he goes through the next portal...**

 **I mean, if nobody votes, I'm probably gonna end up going with Undertale, since I already involved Gaster in one of the earlier timelines.**

 **Either way, I hope to see some actual responses, but I should really get some sleep. G'night!**


	74. Worlds-4

Draga reacted quickly- drawing up a wreath of flames around him defensively as he scanned the rest of the building. Sure enough, Elise wasn't alone; a number of giant spiders resided in the lower floors- though not above him, which implied they had been entering the building and hadn't wanted to risk alerting him before the ambush.

A shame, then, that the warning mechanism of Aura would disappoint them.

The rest of the brood, for what else would you call them, were in the mid twenties range of levels, though they strangely weren't directly related to Elise. At least, it didn't look like they were, since she was a black widow, and the other spiders were all venomless hunting spiders.

An explanation presented itself when Elise's form started to shift, exoskeleton cracking as her entire body morphed until it resembled a woman. Still obviously inhuman, and with a carapace in place of clothing, but with a face and- more importantly- a voice.

"Aw... I've always enjoyed my meat raw." She tapped a few fingers to her face, seeming to mull something over, before suddenly throwing her hand forward to throw some gray fluid at him.

Of course, Draga had already moved by then, having seen it building up in her free hand with his Clairvoyance. Equally apparent was the swarm moving on his location, moving up stairs, through floors, and even climbing the exterior walls to get at him. There was only one place to really go- out the window.

Mordekaiser was still a distance away, and moving slow enough to escape if he ran away, but Draga moved towards him instead. The storm of metal shards roared around him, chipping away at buildings and slaughtering anything that got in its way.

Which was exactly why he was targeting him first. His very presence would prevent Elise from taking part.

Gashes were repeatedly torn into his flesh, digging into muscle and bone, but the effects didn't even last long enough to stop his sprint, as Gamer's Body did its job. His HP was dropping at a significant rate- enough to kill him in about a minute, give or take a few seconds- but that was undercut by his ability to sacrifice MP instead of HP for damage with his Aura. He wasn't doing it now- since MP was honestly a more valuable resource- but his MP regen was about the same scale as the passive damage Morde was outputting.

He was safe, then, but only thanks to Gamer's Body, which his pursuers wouldn't have. Good.

 _Just you and me._

Morde's mace, which Observe named Lucifer Morningstar, was held in the iron giant's right hand. Given that, Draga dashed to his left, outpacing even just his turning speed significantly through his various movement enhancements. Once beside him, Draga braced himself up against a building and _lunged._

The distance between him and Morde seemed to vanish instantly, his body impacting the metal with the same force he had crushed Yorick with an hour earlier. That... Wasn't enough, frankly. All it did was dent his armor a little.

Of course, Draga knew that was the case, which is why he brought a little something along with him. It was a bit of an experiment- but one where the results more than payed off. It was simple, really; the Inventory moved with him, meaning any items drawn from it had his momentum carried over. Even if he couldn't actually run that fast carrying any given weapon, he could still withdraw it in the middle of his dash.

More than a hundred pounds of lantern crashed into Mordekaiser an instant later, wrenching through metal and splitting the animated armor in half with ease.

Draga took a few steps back, preparing for his counterattack while regenerating some of his mana back, but... Uh...

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

That was... Shockingly easy. Sure enough, the armor remained unmoving where the severed pieces laid on the ground, just as the storm lost its source of power and fell to the earth.

 _Huh..._

No extra loot, like skillbooks or equipable armor, which was becoming progressively more annoying, though his mace soon found itself replacing the lantern in his arms. The glowing soul canister, in turn, found itself placed back in his inventory in hopes of pulling that trick off again.

With the storm gone, Elise was able to make an approach again, but she was understandably hesitant about it. She kept to a distance, watching him carefully as she transformed back into a giant spider.

Conveniently, he'd just been given a really strong newspaper.

Lucifer swung through the air, considerably heavier than any mace should be, yet lighter than the lantern that preceded it. As it moved, Draga soared forward, bringing it in a downward arc towards where she'd been a moment prior.

It didn't take a genius to know she would dodge, and Draga tracked her vertical leap with his eyes, and was actually surprised by the sheer height she achieved. The buildings around here were a bit over a hundred feet tall, and she lept straight onto the roof of one of them.

Draga sighed, noting that he already had what he wanted. _Is it really worth hunting her down right this second?_ She was clearly agile enough to be an issue, unlike most of his opponents here, and he could make up for any lost experience in his next world.

 _Hm..._

 **"I believe that's mine,"** a booming voice remarked from behind him.

Draga started to turn, trying to gain sight of what was probably Mordekaiser again, but was... Interrupted. Specifically, by a mace head piercing up from the ground and, if not for Gamer's Body, ending any hope of him having children in the future.

Fortunately, with the pain and grievous bodily harm fading near instantly, it did little more than stun him for a moment. Such a moment was still long enough for Mordekaiser to act, raising his arms to compel metal to move.

A lot of metal, at that. Lucifer tore itself from the ground, and Draga's hands, to fly back to its owner while- at the same time- metal shards returned to life and swam through the air like a hard, sharpened tornado.

Self-satisfied laughter echoed down the road, even with the cacophony that was the storm raging around him, all the white Mordekaiser's severed body pulled itself back together. Metal bent and snapped, melding together without the heat of a forge. Within seconds, all damage was absent from his suit, and Mordekaiser stood in all his glory.

His level hadn't even dropped, implying that he was no less powerful for having just pulled himself back from the dead.

 _Well that's fair and balan- wait..._

If he came back over and over, he could be farmed.

Morde's own technique would keep Elise off of him during their engagements, and his revival would just give him more experience to acquire. The benefits of this would taper off over time, but...

Draga chuckled to himself as he dumped his points, 5 in Intelligence and the other 25 in his Wisdom, before returning his gaze to Mordekaiser. Power visibly surged through him, expanding out from his joints as plumes of fire and lightning, before it came under control.

As before, he implicitly knew how to use the skills he acquired, even if their exact stats were unclear. Draga smiled.

And, with partial credit to the newly acquired Greater Mana Capacity, promptly glowed with the light of a star.

 **Aureola (Passive) LVL4 EXP: 13.89% MP:Variable**

It was only active for a second, boosting the power of his Aura immensely while letting the energy roam freely through and out of his body. It was expensive, but by god was it powerful.

The light itself blinded Mordekaiser for the moment. He didn't seem to have eyes, so there wasn't anything to damage with the light, but seeing him through it would be next to impossible. Sure enough, he reacted defensively, drawing his mace up before him while summoning more to act as a kind of wall. The metal was stronger than steel, whether by nature or by magic, but it was more like paper with the sheer speed and power he was working with.

Mordekaiser shattered on impact.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

Two less levels already, but still infinitely worth it. That wasn't everything he'd gotten from the earlier points, though, and Draga had to welcome back his personal demons.

 **Gluttony (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Wrath (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **Pride (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

100% stronger, faster, and universally damaging. In combination those were just... Satisfying. Equally satisfying was the rush of power when, like his Intelligence, his Wisdom rose to fifty. More skills unlocked, and he still had seven more points to drop. Where to put them, though?

Strength and Vitality were the only real candidates, given where they were at. They were the most likely to grant new skills.

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: None**

 **Title: None**

 **Level: LVL26**

 **HP: 2150**

 **MP: 161250**

 **Str: 10(86)**

 **Vit: 10(43)**

 **Dex: 50(438.6)**

 **Int: 50(215)**

 **Wis: 50(215)**

 **Luk: 10**

 **Points: 7**

 **Height: 6'2"**

 **Weight: 164**

 **Money: 0**

 **Status Effects**

Both were fairly low, and any gains would be very productive... Even without the skills, a 70% increase in strength was pretty significant, and might even let him wield Thresh's lantern without Inventory exploits. A 70% increase in not dying, however, would be equally nice. The main problem with that was the value difference between MP and HP... Aura let him supplement his HP with his MP, for the sake of taking damage, which meant he had little reason to actually upgrade his vitality for the moment.

It seemed unlike that no enemies existed who could get around his soul, as a defensive mechanism- Tzeentch, if nothing else, almost certainly had some kind of countermeasure. The question was, knowing that, was it worth upgrading now?

No.

He was on a time crunch, and his ability to kill things in order to grow stronger had to take priority.

Speaking of, Mordekaiser growled back at him as his metal form pulled itself back together. It didn't get far, obviously, as Draga picked up Lucifer again and crashed it down atop him. The mace then found itself within the unseen void of his Inventory.

One level this time... Perhaps he needed to form properly before he was worth full experience? He hadn't been able to call upon his storm of metal yet, so it made sense that he was weakened then. Well, he did have someone else to take out anyway.

Even despite the layer of concrete in the way, Draga turned up to one building, locking them with a pair of her eight.

 _They always did say to kill it with fire._

Smirking, Draga raised his hands into a cone towards her. She noticed, somehow- probably a connection to the rest of her brood, some of which could definitely see him- but didn't dodge right away. _Man, curiosity was supposed to kill the cat._

Not that he was gonna complain when fire plumed outward, scorching all in its path as Elise, who was in the epicenter of the attack, was consumed by the orange glow.

She tried to escape, of course, it just didn't matter. Geometry was against her, as the very distance she'd built bit her in the thorax. The further from the point of a cone you were, the farther you would need to move to evade it.

Now, under normal circumstances that would have meant the skill would be weaker too, but...

Well, finding loopholes is a large part of what made Blank so powerful in the first place, and he was hardly a slouch in that regard. In this case, the fire didn't actually need to be that strong when it hit her. He could just empower it after it made contact, bypassing a number of logistical limitations.

 _I love this power; it's so fuckin' busted._

With that handled, Draga turned back to the reforming Man Of Steel, and then proceeded to spend the next half hour kicking a man while he was down.

* * *

"What is that?" Yorick asked, looking up towards Draga as he returned to the temple.

'That' was pretty obvious, in this case, seeing as he was currently abreast in Mordekaiser's armor- sans helmet. It didn't drop as loot, unfortunately, even after killing the immortal bastard a good three hundred times, but he was able to get the next best thing.

Practice with Cleanse.

With his newly impressive mana pool, Draga could cast it quite a bit, and had experimented with using it as Mordekaiser respawned. That didn't turn up any results, but Cleansing him while he was alive did.

The Armor wasn't his original body- that much was obvious- so it wasn't a huge leap to think of his possession as a status effect. Whatever brought Mordekaiser back was far enough away or undetectable enough that it wasn't really something he could deal with, either, but...

Well, if he strips the soul away without killing the individual, some pretty interesting things happen. He didn't become a specter, like the Emissaries Of The Mist, or die in the more ordinary sense, but instead shot somewhere north. If he had to guess, he was sent to whatever was reviving him in the first place- perhaps even his original body, if he still had one.

Barely mattered, all things considered, and it wasn't even worth it for the armor. While it was still better than steel, it was impractical, and the joints were designed with the armor itself being alive. Now that it wasn't any kind of movement was cumbersome and tiring.

Fortunately, Draga could use something like that. While his Dex was probably gonna be difficult to grind, that couldn't be said for his Vitality, which still stood at 10, or his strength at a mere 17. Sure, he had a ton of bonuses, but with the base stat itself that low, lugging around two hundred pounds of metal was gonna help.

To that end, he'd sent the newly Cleansed suit into his inventory and equipped it, the more than eight feet tall suit shrinking a bit to accommodate his size. The helmet, as stated before, was left off for Yoricks sake. For all Draga knew, Yorick and Mordekaiser were acquainted, and it wouldn't be pleasant to get stabbed by a shovel even if the wound itself would be easily brushed off.

"Just a spoil of war," Draga answered, walking past him and into the temple. There was the other benefit to getting the armor- leveling up Cleanse itself.

It wasn't going to make a huge difference on its own, really, but that was only one part of the equation. His MP regen had scaled up quite a bit with the Wisdom and Intelligence boosts. The math was simple, giving him 645% of his mana back every minute- his Wisdom tripled by the four stacks of Magic Mastery- which became a handy 17334 mana per second. Cleanse, meanwhile had only cost 9200 before, and had since dropped to 8800, or just about two casts per second if he did nothing else.

Now, he would never _just_ be casting Cleanse, as he had a number of skills to keep permanently active. Fortunately, they were toggled, so it didn't actually take any concentration to keep them up, but they still costs mana to use.

Still, not a bad rate for an ability that had- just a few hours ago- been over half his entire mana pool per cast.

"Have you cleared out the hole?" Draga asked, more as a formality than anything since he could clearly see into the basement from here. It was- and larger than necessary- but most people couldn't take accurate measurements of a black void built into the floor at a glance.

He nodded, following behind yet seeming assured that Draga would catch it regardless. He did, so that was fair enough. "The only thing left is to extract the water itself. Will you need me in handling that?"

Draga smiled at that, moving down the stairs at a regular pace. "No need to worry, Yorick. I have all the hands I need."

None, specifically. The library had been more than generous enough to include the ability to manipulate water.

 **Sungai (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **All things exist in motion, swirling about as the whims of the greater tides act upon them. Power exists only to act- and to force others to act- and so too can natures ebb and flow be controlled with the right will. Nagakaboros' ideal lives in all things, bringing strength and choice into being. Just as it lives and breaths, so too does the ocean upon which all live originates.**

 **Allows for the free control of water with the wielders thoughts.**

 **Cost increases with complexity and mass and decreases with water affinity, Wis, and skill level.**

It began as a trickle, a stream no more than a drop thick rising up to pool above the basin, but it quickly grew as the skill came under control. It wasn't the same as conjuring fire and empowering it- not even close- but more like each droplet was its own entity he needed to command. Then, as it gathered before him, he Cleansed it.

Two casts later, the roughly liter sized ball of water was of a shimmering white- completely clean of the foul spell that had tainted it to begin with.

With another set of thoughts, it moved aside, gravity taking hold to bring it into its new home.

Then the process began anew, with more tainted liquid rising up. It was slow- especially with the time consumed just moving the water itself- but it rapidly became easier as Sungai leveled up and his awareness of its exact methodology grew.

Even then, it would take hours at that rate.

Good, then, that he had all day.

* * *

"This feels rather anticlimactic..."

"Speak for yourself," Draga retorted, letting out a sigh of relief as the job finally completed. "I'm still just in the opening stretch of my training sequence."

"Oh?" Yorick hummed, looking him over. "And how is that going, then?"

 **Level: LVL43**

Pretty good, all things considered. That was 17 levels worth of points he gotten from Elise and grinding Mordekaiser. 85 points was quite a lot, seeing as it could bring his Strength alone up to 102, but he was hesitant to spend it on anything yet.

Whatever world he was sent to next could require him to be nearly anything, from insanely strong to massively destructive, and predicting such a thing was near impossible. To battle Tzeentch, he would definitely need to spec primarily into Intelligence and Wisdom, as the magical powers far outclassed physical ones in basically every game in existence, with this one being no exception, but that was intended to be some distance away.

"I'm stronger than I've been in a long time," he eventually said. He had Yorick to thank for a large part of that- not because he was personally helpful, but because of the trove of skill books he'd been given. Not all of them were available to him still, some requiring increased Vitality, Strength, or Luck, but he had been able to consume the majority.

None of them were particularly spectacular, in comparison to- say- Aura, but there was no doubt in his mind that they would come in handy.

He had gotten a number of skills recently, and while they were undoubtedly nice, one really stood out, just from the complete lack of information he had on it. It hadn't come from one of the books, like he'd first thought, and it definitely hadn't been in the list of skills he'd originally had. It was just... There.

 **Tak Terbatus (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.**

 **?**

Sure, be all mysterious like that. I only had to have 50 Wisdom and 50 Intelligence just to unlock you. It wasn't even an active that he could use and- hopefully- see what happened without shattering his very being into cosmic dust.

None of his stats were affected by it, for he'd tested everything he could think of. It was a little difficult to judge reflexes, Luck, or EXP gains, but it seemed reasonable that it didn't affect those. If it was that simple, it would probably just bloody tell him, and the quote it gave... It just seemed wrong.

With no visible effect, and no way to test it, he was forced to just let it go and focus on the future instead. Now that he had everything he could get here, it seemed reasonable that he would-

 **By saving the Shadow Isles from the ancient curse of the Ruined King, you have unlocked the title [The Blessed].**

Okay... That was rather unexpected, but certainly welcome. There hadn't been a quest, so he didn't think there was actually an award for it.

There was, and the title was automatically equipped. Curious, Draga tapped on it, instantly bringing up the results.

 **The Blessed**

 **The blessing of Murni, originally gifted to those that had bathed in the sacred pools of the Blessed Isles, is a defensive effect which has long since been used to protect oneself from all manner of diseases and curses.**

 **Grants the user immunity to negative elements of physical status effects.**

 _Oh, wow._ It was like Gamer's Mind as a title, except with a different expertise. That was... Spectacular. It didn't just prevent the status effects, either, meaning that if it had a tradeoff, he would gain the benefits as normal. It didn't seem to have any obvious application yet, since he'd only even encountered one status effect and could easily Cleanse the thing, but...

There was no denying the future utility. He could remember, if only distantly, having been trapped by a physical status effect before. Grim, was it?

Hardly mattered now, since he should be immune. The water was ordinarily vulnerable- but this wasn't born from a dip in the pool. As part of the game, it should be basically untouchable by anyone but, say, Tet.

Good.

"I'm going to be leaving in a moment," Draga explained, leaning back against one of the stone walls. It was uncomfortable, just as he imagined the conversation would seconds later. "Have you put any thought into my offer?"

He nodded.

"And?"

Yorick took a breath, letting it out in an explosive sigh. "I want to be human. There are other ways to stave off aging, and even if I do die shortly after the project is complete... I would consider it worth it for The Shadow Isles to become as it once was, even if it requires my passing." He paused, gazing at his deformed hands and arms. "I'd like to be myself when that happens."

Draga stepped forward, placing an arm on his shoulder. Draga met his eyes, keeping them locked together as he prepared his spell. "Welcome back, Yorick." Without another word from either of them, white light spread from the point of contact, fighting off the curse that had centuries to inflict itself upon him.

It was slow going- deliberately so, and for good reason. Even casting at a glacial pace, it looked agonizing, even if he bore it with no more than a grunt.

The process started on his clothes, oddly enough. The black crust that had largely replaced the cloth fell away, dissolving into the air as it left, and leaving behind tattered robes. They were near colorless and in desperate need of repair, but the signs of of what they were shone through regardless.

His back took a moment longer, as the mass on his back refused to be displaced for a time, but it too eventually crumbled and melted away.

After this is when it started to hurt. The Cleanse started in his shoulder, fittingly enough, as the stretched and bulging skin shrank to a more normal size. The skin itself darkened, turning from ghostly white to a more human pale. Underneath his flesh, however, was the really gruesome elements.

Skeletons were not designed with rapidly changing in mind, and while it had decades to morph beforehand, it had minute to now. Bones ground against one another as curves were ironed out and gaps were filled. Joints in particular were like the pieces to some gear mechanism being attacked by a drunk metallurgist. Cartilage fused and unfused as it tried to find its natural state, all the while popping the bone from its socked as the joint itself shrank with the skin.

And that was just the shoulder. It spread down his arm from there, fixing it in much the same way, but also flowed across his chest. His heart beat faster, his lungs began to demand air to do more than speak, and the rest of his normally vital organs were just awaking from an ancient slumber. His stomach in particular was demanding, growling loud enough for Draga to hear even without Clairaudience.

His body continued to heal- the white glow traveling across his legs and other arm as they, too, were restructured and purged of the black taint.

Yorick's head was the last thing to be affected, and the changes were far more mundane. While his skin was still pale and his eyes had lost their color, there weren't any real internal mutations, with the changes seemingly stopping at his neck. It was clear why, really- he'd noticed it ages ago.

The vial around his neck had some of the pure water- no more than an ounce, but still enough to keep him himself, apparently.

 _That effect..._ Draga looked to the pool of water he'd created which shined with artificial light spawned from within. It would be so easy to take a little- as a healing item or the like.

Except he didn't need it, and while it could come in handy like the miscellaneous skills and the infinite ball of yarn, it wasn't something he was going to take. The liquid would be important to these islands, which seemed a more fitting purpose than sitting in an infinite void for a man who just unlocked immunity to status effects.

Then that was it- all he would get from this world.

As if on cue- which is probably was- a gray circle of ripped space tore open beside him, inviting him inside. Draga waited, though, still facing Yorick. "I have one final gift for you."

Draga's Aura rose up across his body, a thin veneer that shined brightly in the dimly lit room. It touched Yorick through the point of contact, flowing into him.

Aura was from another world- a power that it was unlikely Yorick would be able to maintain even after being given it. However, it was all but free to give, and there was no resistance. After all, he didn't have an Aura to resist it with.

The energy just seemed to envelope him, becoming another part of his being as it had with him. The people on Disboard didn't have Aura either, so perhaps it was the same for Yorick as for him- a boost to everything that was temporary yet strong.

It would serve him well later.

Noting Yoricks bow, Draga smiled, but made his way to the portal.

Time for a change of scenery.

* * *

 **Ho boy- pretty long chapter today, guys. It was a killing writing it- literal, in this case, as my desktop died on me.**

 **Fortunately, I have a laptop, so Fate can suck a big fat chode.**

 **Since nobody voted on the poll I created- even thought I advertised it on Chapter 1 here, in Excalibrrr, through Facebook, and my (not that I have any patrons :C)- he will be visiting the world of Undertale to go ham on everybody. Power Scaling will be a bit of a touchy subject for some people, but I hope it won't be an issue.**

 **As for the fight scene at the start of this chapter, I'm gonna be honest with you guys, Draga is supposed to be overpowered here. He's gonna have to fight a god damn Fate Deity. Not gonna work if you lose to a spider woman and animated armor.**

 **The trivial nature of it was primarily a combination of speed and raw destructive power, as I stated before when he battled Hecarim and Thresh, and are things which he excels at that they... Don't. I promise he won't win all of his fights in Undertale and the world after like that. Mobility is a massive concern in many action series, as- for instance- Flash could dumpster Hulk. Undertale doesn't have high speed feats, but it has plenty of broad AoE and hax effects, which will complicate matters.**

 **I won't specify what the third world is, but it gets around it in a more direct way- simply matching his speed and power even among low tiers. It'll be fun when I finally get to write it.**

 **For now, though, I have some crap to deal with at home. Biggest issue, I lost my wallet on a bus, and it is currently waiting at a bus station two cities over. Thing is, it had my cash, my ATM card, and my ORCA card. I know- I'm a genius.**

 **Tootles.**


	75. Worlds-5

**To anyone who likes League of Legends, I watched 'This Is War(dles) 5' a bunch while writing this, and created a rap for Kled (who wasn't out at the time). Wanted a few opinions on it.**

 **GET OFF MY PROPERTY!**

 **All the world belongs to me;  
No room for you to fight or flee.  
With this lizard at my side,  
You might as well have already died. **

**Racing through the grass- hot on your ass. I'd better push on the gas, cause I'm gonna shatter you like glass!  
Your funeral has come to pass, with mourners coming in mass. Good- more targets for my brass. I'm Kled, sergeant second class. **

**Get up- you're useless, barely worth my time.  
That's why I can stab you while singing this rhyme.  
But your weakness is more than an insult to us;  
I can't feed you to Skaarl- now that's treasonous. **

**My ax is fury, like the vikings I know.  
But unlike them, man are you slow!  
No chance left to run, and nowhere to go;  
Hell, even that dragon fell to my combo. **

**I'm violent and crazy? Is that what they say?  
Good- cause it's true- and I've come here to stay.  
But for titles, what should I go by today?  
Admiral, commander, or your dismay? **

**I'm General Kled of the fourth battalion.  
You better stay far from me and my stallion.**

* * *

The portal, thankfully, didn't see fit to drop him face first into the grass.

It did place him in the middle of some cave, with only a spotlight from the sun beaming down through onto a clearing of grass. Some stone doorway was set up against one wall, but it looked like a temple, and he'd had just about enough of those recently.

He didn't act right away, though, and instead called upon his senses to examine the place thoroughly. They were under an ordinary looking forest on some hills with no civilization in sight, which wasn't quite as surprising since the range of the skill fell off quite drastically when things were in the way- especially bloody mountains- but he had no such problems in examining the ruins.

For they were ruins, now that he could see them from here. Moss and vines grew along cobbled stone within a array of corridors. Not a maze, really, even without his eyes, but more a decorative shape carved into the dirt.

Relatively well maintained, all told. While plants took hold, and he could see some surprisingly high level frogs in there, the structures themselves were far from crumbling down.

Nothing seemed threatening, though. Even those frogs were only high in comparison, being level six as opposed to negative twelve.

He couldn't see all the way into the ruins, and presumably there was more beyond the house he could just barely make out built down there, but there was a certain lack in incentive to charge in there. Given how powerful he was at the moment, stomping the frogs would just be boring.

"Welcome to the underground, stranger!"

Draga blinked- not that it really meant anything when he could see through his eyelids just as well. A flower... It wasn't there a second ago, and while he knew it could speak, that hardly accounted for it appearing, essentially, out of thin air. It's nameplate didn't really help matters.

 **[ERROR]**

 **Flowey, The Flower**

 _Yeah... I don't trust that for a fuckin' minute._

"Hi..." he greeted, stripping him down to the molecule with his eyes. It didn't really tell him anything, since- outside the stem, which was pretty normal- _everything_ about the damn flower was oddly structured to accommodate, you know, being alive and talking. It had eyes and... I guess muscles? It was a plant, so it wasn't a perfect replication, but the function seemed similar enough. It just took out or put in water into specially shaped tubes to bend and move around. Clever- ingenious, even- which only reinforced hsi first impression.

"I'm Flowey- the flower!" He... She... It smiled at him, which only really made him look creepier since the... The damn thing had teeth. He'd seen them earlier, obviously, but the universal perspective of clairvoyance was about as far removed from ordinary viewing as you could get without going blind. "What's your name?"

Draga was about to answer when a popup appeared with the same request, which genuinely got him to laugh. _Is this part of the game, now?_

Picking a name was a complicated choice. Draga wasn't even his original name- seeing as he'd never gotten one from any real parent, he'd just changed the one the demons had given him when he became an adult. Thing is, you're never supposed to use your real name in a video game.

With a smirk, Draga both thought and said 'Asmodeas.'

A fitting name, given what he would be doing here. The original Asmodeas was a comparatively small- which was to say he was only about the size of a train car as opposed to the whole train- snake that hunted the animals which snuck into the underworld. There were many tales of him above ground, since he was the only one small enough to actually leave through the tunnels, but the biggest was when he- with the immunity to the pledges granted by being outside the 16 races- assaulted the Warbeasts.

Even at the surface, he was hunting animals.

And he might just be doing the same.

"Asmodeas, huh? That's a cool name. Before you join us in the ruins- I want to give you something." _Oh boy~ I wonder if its going to kill me._ "Here. Have these love pellets."

As he spoke, five... He couldn't even really describe them properly, even with his vision as absurd as it was. They took the shape of seeds, but so obviously weren't that the comparison was near useless. They were pure white, and seemed to glow slightly. An Aura projection? It was something similar, at least, but that actually opened the door to them literally being composed of emotion, in a sense.

Regardless, Draga took one step to the side, letting them fly right past him.

Flowey frowned, watching him for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh. "You're just like the last one... Can't just take the easy way out, can you?" It was rhetorical, so Draga just waited. "That, too. Frisk, was it? She was near silent- just giving her name and some grunts whenever she was hit. So boring, you people."

"Boredom, huh?" Draga mused, popping the joints in his neck as he spared another glance for the ruins. "I had wanted to avoid it, originally."

The flower perked up at that, smiling viciously. "Are you saying what I think you are, Asmodeas?"

 _Am I? I do need to kill things to grow stronger, and Tet wouldn't send me here if there weren't stronger things down the line._ How far down the line would they be, though? And would that matter, in the long run, seeing as he could move and act at speeds beyond an ordinary human's comprehension?

"I suppose I am."

Flowey nodded slowly- or, at least, he assumed that's what the up and down motion of the blossom was. "You are new here, so it could only be fun to see what happens. Come on, Asmodeas- show me what you got."

Within the span of half a second, Flowey was gone, but he was paying attention this time around. Good thing too, since it gave some insight into the flowers abilities.

It wasn't moving, in the traditional sense. It sank into the dirt, sure, but the physical structure itself just seemed to disappear as it moved down. A rudimentary glow- far dimmer than an Aura, but roughly the same in concept- then moved into the ground and away. It was fast, too- almost as fast as him with all of his abilities- but the soul didn't meet any resistance along the way. No air or dirt moved out of its way, and it didn't seem to even need to adjust to the different materials it passed through.

A few seconds later, it was gone, having left his range of detection completely.

 _I'll be keeping an eye out for you._ Flowey didn't look like a threat in the sense that Hecarim had been, but more like Sora or Shiro could be. Planning- scheming- and with far more knowledge of the area than you do.

Of course, he could be wrong about the literal threat too, since his level was broken and his title was clearly misleading. Not wrong, but less helpful than it could have been. It was like saying he could outrun a cheetah- he could, but that didn't really give away the full breadth of his abilities.

Draga looked up towards the sky, but then towards the gate he was likely going to have to travel through instead.

 **[Alert Quest]**

 **Seven Less-deadly Sins**

 **The Underground has been home to some less than savory activities, including the capturing of a number of human souls. Their very presence here is harmful, and forces conspire to use them for even more insidious purposes. Whether to destroy or rule, they must be stopped.**

 **Defeat Fear, Hatred, Corruption, Frustration, Deceit, and Cowardice.**

 **Bonus Objective: Defeat Despair.**

 **Rewards: Title [The One Above], 9,380,000 XP, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?.**

 **Failure: Death**

 **Do you accept this Quest?**

 **(Y)/(N)**

 _I guess that answers whether more powerful enemies are further into the ruins,_ Draga thought, reading through it names also lined up with them being high tier demons, which implied he was in for some bittersweet nostalgia. Sure, he hadn't _killed_ any of the Demonia- directly; a few might have starved or the like- but he had spent most of his life beating them at games.

What else could you describe his existence as now- other than a cosmic game? Hell- his goal was to eventually defeat a god, just like old times.

At least he'd never even heard of these demons before- that would help. It would be a lot harder to kill someone he grew up with than some parallel dimension species member. Like... Is that even a relation, at that point? Was he brothers to all the other Dragas in the multiverse?

 _Sorry, Asmodeasi,_ he corrected, rolling his eyes at the term. He was still called that name occasionally, on his return trips to the underworld, so they had to come up with a plurality. It ended with an 's', so...

He was wasting time and he knew it.

With a quick breath to calm himself- as if it was necessary, with Gamer's Mind working in the background- he walked into the ruins. At least, it started as a walk, but as he saw more of it, his pace grew, and with it, the annoyance at the weakness of the enemies he saw. All throughout the ruins, nothing seemed to pass level nine- which is what he started with on the first world.

The environment was perfect for him to just scour everything away with jets of flame- little to not flammable materials or even things that could scorch. This was less true up ahead, where he saw leaves, but those hardly mattered. They existed only to hide away secondary paths, all of which he could see anyway.

It just wouldn't be worth it. Trivial amounts of experience and they clearly didn't have any items on them. It just wouldn't make sense for...

For them to...

Draga stopped, turning to look back at the miscellaneous creatures he had completely ignored as he made his way through. They... Loot just appeared, somehow. It just... They didn't have... What?

No items- which seemed fair- but he could see coins appearing in small stacks beside them as he moved past them. Why? Something was clearly working to give him money for ignoring them, even as they tried- and failed- attack him. A morality system, perhaps? Was Tet rewarding him for not killing things, now?

As far back as he could remember, only the bosses really ever dropped anything when they died. Was that always how the game worked, or a part of this world in particular? Maybe the game updated based on the timeline?

Too many questions, and no way to get them answered without Tet. Perhaps he'd give Disboard a visit if and when he unlocked dimension travel- then he could get some bloody answers from the deity as to how this whole shebang was an adequate answer to his wish.

The coins were all gold, which was fitting for a video game currency. They were neat little circles, with a G written on them in elegant calligraphy, but they were otherwise nondescript. The only noteworthy thing he could see, even with his vision, was that each was perfectly identical to one another. Generated by the game, perhaps?

That made some sense, but he had no way to test it. He did get to test something else out, though- a skill he thought would be relatively useless, despite how cool it sounded.

 **Mandi Emas (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Since time immemorial, gold has been the most precious of metals. It has neither the conductive qualities of copper nor the toughness of tungsten, but its rarity and luster made it the envy of many. It's soft and malleable, perfect for decoration and the like, and many who picture wealth envision rivers and streets of gold. They aren't that far off.**

 **Passively grants immunity to the harmful effects of molten gold.**

 **Actively allows the user to freely manipulate gold- melting, hardening, bending, or even evaporating it.**

 **Cost scales up with mass and complexity and down with purity, Intelligence, and skill level.**

The skill was actually a lot easier to use than Sungai was- though no less expensive- in large part due to the removal of the individual. He didn't need to control each drop on its own, but rather each body of gold, which- to make things even easier- he merged together wherever possible. Soon he had a little over a liters worth of gold collected into a rough cube at his feet.

It found itself in his Inventory quickly enough, as would any gold collected in the future. He'd find a use for it eventually.

Everything about this left a huge question open for him, though. Was it this world in particular that was special? He'd considered it before, but there was only one way to check- killing things. It was unlikely for any major differences to appear on the low level scraps he was surrounded by at the moment.

After a moments thought, Draga brought up his various speed enhancements and sprinted further into the ruins. As he moved, his vision remained outstretched, mapping the corridors he passed by and tracking the levels of everything he saw. Nothing was that impressive- at least, not until he came into range of the house.

 **[LVL72]**

 **Toriel, The Holy Spirit**

 _Great..._ Based on the title, this wasn't something he would actually want to kill. Looking into the house of the goatwoman, she was literally baking a pie. Come on, Tet- make this easy.

The house, thankfully, wasn't the end of the road. Some underground tunnels, attached to the basement level of the house, went further forward.

Draga paused, looking back at the creatures he'd passed. Like before, money had appeared next to them as he passed, and he had the opportunity to collect it all. It would take time, though, and for little tangible reward. Gold was valuable as currency, but not really to him personally, as he'd yet to encounter anything he could buy that he'd even want.

Not worth the time, he decided, and quickly teleported into the basement tunnels of the house. He spared a moment to gauge her reaction, but she didn't so much as flinch, which he took as a good sign.

It also let him continue unhindered, as the tunnel was barren of traps and monsters.

The other side was slightly less so. No traps, still- except for a bridge, which didn't have anything built into it; it just looked really unstable by design. He could see a town a ways forward, however, built of wood which he now knew the source of.

There was a forest, complete with the sun- or a sun, as the speed looked off as compared to both Earth and Disboard- but it raised a number of serious questions. Perhaps the people of the town would help him? He hadn't killed anyone on his way here, so it seemed unlikely they'd reject him out of hand.

Better get moving the-

"Hello," Draga said, more to buy time than anything else. One of the perks of Extrasensory Perception is that it merged your senses together. Anything you could hear, smell, taste, or touch was visible as if in front of you, and in all other combinations. It would be disorienting to most, but the completeness of the whole perspective made it a bit easier to process. Thing is, he couldn't taste, smell, or touch the... person behind him- only hear him. His bones, specifically.

"Heh. Didn't expect to see another of her kind anytime soon. You're a lot older than we normally get, too." The voice was deep, and young, but also incredibly synthetic. It wasn't hard to tell why, given what he learned by turning around to face him.

 **[LVL1]**

 **Sans, The Skeleton**

 _Are all the titles gonna be like that?_ Hopefully not, but this was exactly the kind of thing Tet would push through for dramatic effect. And what was with his level? The damn pixie creatures in the earlier zone were higher level than a living skeleton? He could probably stab the damn things to death with the tips of his fingers or toes- where was the difference?

Fragility, perhaps? Even without the effects or rot- which he was thankfully missing, as he could easily tell with his ability to taste his entire fucking body (and boy, wasn't that a pleasant image)- bones would go brittle after long enough, not to mention natural erosion of the outer layers. His bones were well kept, and the wear and tear itself wasn't visible, but they were thinner than human bones normally were.

But that was assuming he was originally human. Everything he could see in the village- snowden, the sign outside called it- was anthropomorphic. He could easily just be one of those, for all he knew.

The only thing that broke that idea was the very human clothing he was wearing- particularly the jacket he currently had his hands stuffed into.

Hell, his comment was ominous as fuck given how short he was. What if the less 'older' people were killed and turned into skeletons? The process probably wouldn't work on him, but the implications were excessively creepy. Probably not intended, true or not, but still.

 _And a lot older? Come on, I'm only 22- maybe up to 24 with time distortion and previous lives._

None of those thoughts were voiced, however. Even if he was suspicious, putting someone on guard was literally never the right way to get information, and he wasn't here for Sans either. His targets lay further ahead, somewhere. Hm... Perhaps a guide would help?

"Oh? Can you take me to where she is?" Unless the girl he referred to was in Snowden, which would be inconvenient, Sans' aid would get him closer to his goal.

He nodded, and it almost looked like he was smiling despite the lack of a face. The angle, then? Regardless, Sans took a hold of his wrist and pulled him down the path at a walking pace. It was slow- slower than he was used to, at least- but that hardly mattered when, a few steps later, he was promptly somewhere else.

It was like the teleportation ring, only a much longer distance. That had a max range of maybe fifteen feet, and was completely impossible to improve, from what he could tell. He was now...

Draga scanned his surroundings with his vision, recognizing absolutely nothing of what he saw. The architecture was different, the biome was different, and the sky above was covered by the stone he'd seen on first arrival. It was a genuine cave, again.

But oh so different. He was in a laboratory- far more realistic than Yoricks attempt- but far more disturbing as a result.

Not from a normal visual field, mind. All he could see with his eyes were a few floors of clean, almost sterile, flooring with tables and tables of miscellaneous notes and experiments. A few messes on the ground- and a female lizard creature cleaning one of them up in that moment- but nothing out of place, really.

With Clairvoyance, however, the whole thing changed. The added spectrums allowed him to see the blood that stained the metal or stone floors, but also that same energy Flowey had which seemed to permeate the area. It was thin, but spread wide and far like a mist. It was all different 'shades' too, for lack of a better word. From different creatures, he decided.

There were only a few people here, now. Sans, himself, the lizard Alphys- who was a more agreeably low level of thirty two- and the last addition.

A little girl.

 **[LV1]**

 **Frisk, The One In Control**

Not just level one, but with a frightening title as well? And what was with the missing ' **L** ' in ' **LVL** '? Did it have some significance to her power level?

 _What if she's another Gamer,_ his mind suggested, which seemed to fit rather well. Connecting two video games usually required changes to how they were programmed or read in some manner, which would fit, and it would also explain away her title quite nicely. Entirely different game- entirely different method of acquiring XP and titles.

It wasn't something worth worrying about, really. Just looking at the way that- upon realizing that he and Sans were here- she reflexively hid herself behind the skeleton displayed her lack of power.

Sans' level was definitely a lie, but one he could theoretically handle. If she defaulted to him, then he should be just fine.

Draga nodded once, in what was hopefully a reassuring way, before turning back to Sans. He hadn't seen any of his targets anywhere nearby, and what better way to than ask? "I was hoping you could help me find a set of demons."

The skeleton didn't have eyebrows, but he somehow managed to give off an air of amused curiosity as he looked back. "Demons? Afraid we only got monsters, down here."

By an ordinary human's standards? Perhaps, but he was no ordinary human. Disboard, along with the rest of his adventures, had long since acclimatized him to the crazy nonsense he was gonna have to confront. In comparison, this world was practically tame.

"Do the words Fear, Hatred, Corruption, Frustration, Deceit, Cowardice, and Despair mean anything to you?" As he spoke, Draga watched Sans carefully. He didn't have a heartbeat, obviously, nor anything else that made it easy to discern his thoughts, but he did tense up his shoulders slightly.

A reaction. Better than he'd hoped, to be honest.

It was the last one, though- Despair- which truly garnered a response. Not a good one, as it happened.

 **Detect Bloodlust** **(Passive and Active) LVL23 EXP: 0.01% MP:0**

Last he'd read, the damn thing was level eight.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you where you stand."

Draga raised one hand, which actually caused him to pause. Good thing, too, since it gave him just enough time to dump all of his points into Intelligence.

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL8 EXP: 19.01% MP: 96000**

One 'moment' later, he was gone.

* * *

 **OH SHIT, DUDE! Alternative Universe of an already existing AU. This is gonna be _crazy._**

 **And hopefully better written than the RWBY one was- though, to be fair, I was a bad writer in general back then. I have had much time to work on my abilities since then, and this should work out better in the end.**

 **Anyone from the Undertale fandom should have already figured out what this is based on, but I'll spoil it anyway since I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys above average action animations.**

 **Glitchtale.**

 **I highly encourage any of you unfamiliar with it to watch the series on YouTube. It's pretty good, and should clear up a number of things- though mostly from the next three chapters, since this one was mostly just getting Draga into The Core. An important step, for sure, but not exactly riveting or intense on plot details.**

 **It's mostly just setup for later chapters, which is important in this case. When you only have 16000 words or so to resolve an arc, you gotta be efficient. Good thing, then, that Draga has that very same interest in mind.**

 **What a coincidence.**

 **See you all next week.**


	76. Worlds-6

Draga let out a sigh as time began to flow again, replenishing his stores of mana. It didn't take long, seeing as he'd only spent around a third of his just under three-hundred thousand stores. No max MP or regen based skills this time around, which was unfortunate, but he did almost double his mana pool anyway.

Totally worth it, in his mind.

He took a breath, glancing upwards as the sound of shattering glass finally reached his ears. It was an unfortunate necessity, he learned, having tried and failed to use the teleportation ring to spare the window.

It didn't really bother him to break it, just that it gave away his position slightly. He would understand that he was nearby- though, only in a loose sense. Once outside, he'd quickly scanned his surroundings and found the furthest empty place he could. It was a library of sorts, though not the kind that would have skill books, unfortunately. Black panels on the walls told the story of the monsters being sealed underground by humans, and their need of human souls to escape.

 _This place is_ really _warming up to me._

Sarcasm aside, it seemed at least slightly justified. They had been forced from their homes into the underground which- despite the surprising availability of resources- was still less than their home reportedly was. The more disturbing part was the specific number they needed- exactly seven.

Assuming, of course, that he trusted their account. Since they self-identified as monsters, and were apparently involved in the extraction of human souls, that was something he was...

Not unwilling to do, actually. It was morbid, and undoubtedly amoral, but it only took a moments thought to realize that- even without Gamer's Mind- he would have been able and willing to kill them right back. Would it be fair to expect the literal monsters to be the bigger people?

 _Tet dammit._

He was back to square two. Not one, fortunately, since he was still _somewhere_ in the underground, where his targets presumably were. Unfortunately, it was now even less clear what specifically they were capable of. As demons, he could guess at emotional and elemental manipulation, but if they were the souls of humans as he now suspected?

They could theoretically be capable of anything, which pretty much negated the only advantage he'd have had going in now.

Draga sighed, letting himself fall back onto a stone outcropping he'd found. Why was everything so complicated? Tet wanted him to accomplish something, clearly, and the last world has been simple as hell. The first batch of enemies had literally come to him, and the others were within convenient distances.

He paused.

What if it was that simple? He'd spent the entirety of his admittedly short visit here hunting them deliberately. What if it was easy, and he only had to wait?

The more he thought on it, the more it made some amount of sense. Sans and the others were hardly in crisis mode at the moment- even if he did react harshly to their names- which implied that they weren't in any immediate danger. That being the case, wouldn't it be smart to just wait until they were?

While he wasn't able to see them anymore- an unfortunate result of the many walls now in between- he could still sense the lingering anger and willingness to kill. It was muted, both by distance and time, but it was there.

If he entered combat again, wouldn't it go off then too?

Everything fit, at least enough for him to try it. He needed time to grind his skills anyway- something he could only once remember even having. What to do, then? Meditation was an obvious start, with the regen bonus it afforded, but he had so many other skills to grind. Should he focus on Tachyon? It was his most expensive skill, and he was fighting a time deity.

There was something else he remembered, from way back when. It was a calm experience, despite the risk it posed to himself, and he already had all the skills he needed to repeat it. Bathing in lava was a tad unusual, but it had risen his fire affinity. What about the opposite, though? Would spending a day underwater give him a water affinity?

Only one way to find out.

Draga narrowed his senses on the largest nearby body of water, activated Tachyon, and with the 4 seconds a little under 400,000 mana gave him, shot into the depths.

* * *

Sleep wasn't something Draga did anymore. He had a poor relationship with it, even as a human, and the lack of mental or physical fatigue really undercut the uses for it.

He had a skill to help make it more worthwhile- Sleep Casting- but it was still so terribly wasteful.

So he didn't. As he began sinking towards the underground lake bed, Draga set about meditating. It wasn't hard, though that was mostly because the skill- Breath Of The World- bypassed the half of the normal process. No stances, no motionlessness, and no intense concentration.

It still took focus, but less, and within moments he could feel the energy flowing into and through him. That was... An oversimplification.

He hadn't really meditated in forever, and the experience was massively changed from the expansion of his senses. Rather than a simple calm, misunderstood as an effect of the meditation itself, he could see the patterns of light flowing through the air. Touch them, too, as they reached his skin and were sucked inside. The world looked as though filled with blue waves, ebbing and flowing in all directions, but still having pockets of higher or lower density, all of which were drawn in his direction as if by gravity.

And then there was him. With the added awareness, he could feel the broken physics of the game system in a very real sense. There was no flow- no motion within his body- as he understood it. Instead of moving, in the colloquial sense, it seemed to just appear wherever it was vacant, taking it up for the moment it took for its instability to shatter the unanimity all over again.

The process would repeat over and over, in a cycle as chaotic as the water droplets that surrounded his descent. Erratic movements, in seemingly random directions, but which paradoxically was in perfect order.

An infinite cycle.

 **Through understanding of and proximity with water, the skill [Water] has been created!**

Not quite what he'd planned, but totally worth it. Level one, of courses, but it would grow in time, and that was the whole reason he was here in the first place.

Speaking of time- it froze- as he tried out how Tachyon would affect his meditation. He already had an idea- which proved true- but it was always worth experimenting.

Unfortunately, that very idea was that the movements of the natural energy would cease, and it did, but that also meant the regeneration effects of meditation were nullified. Strangely, the skill still gained experience, even if everything it actually did stopped functioning.

And the effect ended, with everything returning to... Would you call anything in his life normal? Probably not, but that kind of made the utterly absurd into his normal, in which case it hadn't even stopped being normal.

 _I think I'm gonna retire when all of this is over._

He wasn't done in the depths, by any means, and continued to meditate on the sand. A few moderate level monsters showed up, swimming around him as if curious whether he was even breathing, but a brief burst of lightning deterred any from attacking.

Despite being a good hundred feet underwater, for minutes on end, he didn't feel any major pressure to breath. He still wanted to- instincts forced into him by being mortal most of his life- but without any need, it wasn't even worth experimenting with. It was just a nice calm and relaxing time.

For him- not for anyone watching. He wasn't _just_ meditating, after all, and water was significantly less comfortable for him than the warmth of fire and lightning. Those weren't the primary skills on the grind, though. Tachyon and Sungai got those particular honors. Both were rising steadily in XP as he spammed them, intermittently swapping between rotating larger and larger volumes of water and freezing time in order to waste excess mana.

A steady rhythm fell into place. Every other second, there would be an extra second, all the while a whirlpool formed impossibly beneath the surface.

It was actually beautiful, in a mundane way- the water, that was. It formed a rough cylinder above him- but the motion wasn't the only part that separated it. The moment slowly cleared the water of impurities, while keeping plankton and the like out as well. He couldn't see bacteria, even while focusing with _his_ eyes, but he doubted it was working on that level anyway. It was still something to marvel at, though, and so he did.

Such wouldn't be short lived, though, as he spent the next few hours meditating exactly like that.

* * *

Draga let out a sigh- handily ignoring the bubbles that rose up in front of his eyes. They rose too fast to really worry about, and- as he'd found out- his air affinity allowed him to pull breaths out of the water all on its own.

If he couldn't control water, it wouldn't have been worthwhile, but he could, so he did. While he'd written it off originally, it acted as a way for him to practice both manipulating the water and the air.

He didn't have any skills to manipulate any of his three maxed out affinities, but the nature of it let him do so anyway. Since it wasn't a skill, though, he had to actually concentrate to accomplish anything, and the results were limited massively by his creativity and available resources.

Fortunately, fire and lightning were both easily conjured by him, while the water itself was flush with air. Or, it was, since he had recently taken to practicing it by removing most of it before replenishing it by hand. Er... By mind?

The whole process was a lot more complicated than it sounded, too, but it was relaxing- in a way- to simply go through the motions of something for so long. It was back to basics. The wildlife probably didn't agree, but they clearly didn't have much choice when compared to the power he was throwing around.

And the rewards were very real. Not a lot of numbers, since he'd already maxed his air affinity and Sungai didn't list any, but the results still mattered.

 **Tachyon (Active) LVL47 EXP: 1.19% MP: 76500**

 **Water (Passive) LVL39 EXP: 27.48% MP:0**

 **Sungai (Active) LVL28 EXP: 73.56% MP:Variable**

The different growth rates were a little irksome, but the leaps and bounds Tachyon had been making were... Amazing, to say the least. He couldn't even begin to imagine how broken the skill he got from maxing it would be- assuming there was one.

Adding onto that, he'd taken to training his various buffs as well, and they _did_ gain experience during Tachyon, but they still didn't get the massive advantages that Sungai and his water affinity gained by just scaling up his actions. As such, their growth was more gradual, and- while still definitely worth it- wouldn't be defining him in the near future.

He could imagine, at least, the kind of powerhouse he would quickly become.

And apparently needed to be right now.

 _FUCK-_

He didn't react to any noticable danger, but rather the sheer wave of killer intent that rolled over him. It was thick and viscous, more so than the water he shot through on reflex, and it actually grew in intensity over the coming seconds.

 **By reaching the maximum level of [Sense Bloodlust], the skill [Maksud] has been created!**

It hardly took the new skill to pinpoint the direction of the source, which shown like a Tet damn psychic star even through enough distance and walls to mask it from view.

It also took no time whatsoever to figure out what was happening, though the game helped anyway in a slightly roundabout way.

 **Background music enabled: Hatred (x2 speed), Vetrom**

Now, if he recalled properly, the game had been set to only trigger background music during boss fights.

Draga cracked his neck, only serving to comfort him as he kicked up and out of the water. He landed atop the surface, a brief application of Sungai keeping him aloft, before he dashed off, sheer speed alone letting him ride atop the surface as he went to meet with destiny.

* * *

Whatever he thought he'd find, when he finally caught up with the fight currently in progress, he would have been proven wrong. He'd found the conflict at the center of a massive underground cavern, completely vacant of any evidence of life, except for the fighters themselves.

Sans and Frisk, who he'd met earlier, and one more creature.

His species was a lot harder to determine, and Observe was as unhelpful as ever, but there were a number of things he could figure out quite easily.

Number one, the game was clearly fucking with him.

 **[LVL2]**

 **Gaster Morgan, The Man Who Speaks In Hands**

He didn't really have a reason to doubt his name, and the title seemed apt given the hands floating around him telekinetically. The level, on the other hand, was complete bullshit, and he knew it.

Why? Cause the dude was just casually enduring a cut from his right shoulder- almost- all the way to his left hip. His body was nearly severed, though with no organs or blood to spill, it was fairly bland in appearance.

Still, no ordinary asshole was gonna survive that shit, much less someone weaker than a fucking frog.

Sans, Frisk, and Gaster clearly noticed his presence, but after a quick shake of the skeletons head, the three ignored him.

With that, they took away his only real distraction from the real selling point of the room: the giant black sphere floating in the center of the room.

It didn't have a name, and wasn't moving, but that didn't exactly make it any less completely fucking evil. The material itself was similar the liquid from the Shadow Isles, in the sense that it was dark on every spectrum he could see and was opaque, but it had a number of strange properties on top of that.

Heat absorption was a pretty interesting one. It was difficult to describe exactly how it worked, but he could feel more than see the heat drain from the air around it. What was the opposite of radiate? That's what it was doing. The sphere also floated, which seemed important. Weightlessness was hard to achieve, since the nature of a rotating planet and air pressure would naturally send anything with weight of zero upwards, yet it was perfectly stationary within the room. Some method of latching onto the room, perhaps?

He couldn't see anything like that, but his vision was hardly unbounded.

More intriguing was that it was hollow, and filled with air. More than that, he could vaguely sense two 'empty' pockets within, which were presumably people. Maybe he should spend more time mastering elemental senses?

Too late now, at least in the moment, and he could sense the conflict inside stop. They spoke- and he really wished he could read their lips or the vibrations in the air- but he couldn't.

That didn't matter for too terribly long as, mere moments later, the black sphere dispersed.

 **[LVL1]**

 **Asriel, The Dreamer**

 **[LVL?]**

 **ERROR**

 _Oh, very helpful game- thanks for the input._

Asriel was another of the goat people, like Toriel from before, and was fairly uninteresting otherwise. He had lines across his body and clothing, but Observe helpfully marked them as simply decorative.

'Error' was a different story. On the most basic level, it was another human, and one remarkably similar in appearance to Frisk. The colors were odd, and she had pink circles on each of her cheeks to simulate blushing.

She wasn't, of course- and he could see that easily enough even without his inhuman vision. That was just the surface details, though, and there was so much more at work. Her insides, if you could even call them that, were entirely composed of that soul-like material he'd seen in the laboratory earlier. It was more deeply mixed, so the differing colors were difficult to pinpoint, but you could make out approximately seven.

He was really starting to hate that number.

Observe wasn't helping, as it brought up eight tabs on cast, but seven of them were mostly blank- six containing only a name he had no context for while the seventh had Frisk listed. The eight popup was the only one with any real substance, identifying her as Chara and giving some vague description of her backstory.

The level difference, most likely. It hadn't come into play before now, since everything here was lower than his, but it was annoying that he couldn't get a read on her abilities.

Chara, as he would call her for now, smiled as she slowly floated to the ground. This was contrasted against Asriel, who crashed down a moment earlier as he succumbed to a knife wound directly into his heart.

Everyone in the room hesitating- trying to process what was happening in their own ways- but that hesitation cost them. At best, Asriel would have had seconds to live, but that time was still cut short as Chara stepped forward again. She swung once, driving the life- and the light of several souls- from his body.

Sans and Gaster reacted in that instant- teleporting both them and their attacks directly into her. Two fists buried themselves in her gut, throwing her up into the air, and she was given no time to respond before giant skulls manifested above her and shot beams of energy down.

Ordinarily, white would have completely obscured her form as she blocked only enough of the attack to keep herself from being hit, but Draga had no such issues.

Time froze as Tachyon fell into place. Lightning coursed over his body, illuminating just as much as his Aura, all while the powers of Bai Hu granted him strength. The stone burst as he took exactly one step, crossing the entire distance in less than a blink.

He only landed one strike- a simple punch to Charas stomach- but there was literally no time for her to guard. Though Gamer's Body prevented the damage itself, he could feel his flesh sheer away under the force of the impact, and that spoke wonders about what the strike was going to do.

Chara shot backwards at roughly the same speed he had moved an instant prior, the air she passed through stopping her from even spinning as she sailed to the back wall. In no time at all, she landed, embedding herself several feet into the stone as a cloud of dust burst out of it.

Draga was uniquely able to see inside, where she gasped for breath, having it knocked out even before hitting the wall. She recovered fast- unnaturally so- but not quite fast enough to stop what happened next.

Simultaneously, almost a hundred goat-like skulls manifested in the air around Sans and Gaster. There was a moment of silence, as even the music going on in the background paused.

And then they _fired._

Enough energy to completely blind Draga's senses burst forth, centered on one point, with Chara barely able to respond. With a swing of her knife, a red barrier formed in front of her, but, well...

It broke almost instantly.

Sans and Gaster crouched, seemingly exhausted from the maneuver, and he hardly blamed them. Unfortunately, Draga couldn't allow himself to relax. Why?

He hadn't leveled up.

Scanning the room yielded nothing. No corpse, no knife, and no lingering mass from her soul. Where wa-

Draga's eyes widened, and he made to spin around with his arms up, but the blow hit him before he could even make the attempt. He still turned, in a sense, but careening wildly through the air as he was sent flying too wasn't exactly a part of the plan.

While the back of his spine reconstituted itself from the pulverized ash it had been turned into a second prior, Draga poured mana into his ring. An instant later, he was instead crashing into the ground, which actually brought him to a stop.

He'd need to find a more permanent solution to knockback later, but that would have to wait, since Chara wasn't just standing around.

She floated upwards, raising her knife in their direction. It, along with the majority of her body, was now coated in a black miasma that, while he could see through, he couldn't actually see.

 **"I told you earlier about what Hatred was..."** Not him, but Gaster and Sans had been here at least a minute before he had. **"But I don't feel like any of you truly get it."** Her eyes glowed red, then blue, then yellow, and more as she looked between them. **"I've got a treat for you."**

The energy composing her soul flowed out through her arm, the knife, and then into some strange collection of energy in front of it. It took the form of a heart, which erratically changed between the seven colors he'd identified earlier.

With her soul gone, Chara fell to the ground, but she stayed standing on impact. She smiled, looking up at her creation.

Chara didn't _do_ anything in that moment, but rather stopped doing something. The black material which had been maintaining her body broke apart, forming smoke which rose up, and in turn hit the soul.

Maybe he could have stopped it, but Draga didn't actually want to. He had an idea of what was happening, and he was actually proven right a few moments later as the soul was suffused by the black and split apart.

Exactly seven pieces.

Before the process could even finish, names appeared above the shards, and Draga could only smile at what he saw. They were all too high level for him to see, but their names... He could still see them.

 **Akumu, The Terror Of The Void**

 **Holestus, The Lies We Tell**

 **Norengen, The Reason To Hide**

 **Poleander, The Burning Hatred**

 **Elerose, The One Who Speaks**

 **Seether, The Endless Agony**

The last one... The last one was special.

 **Despair**

* * *

 **Hey, two days earlier B. Gonna continue to just release chapters when they are done as we continue to approach Christmas. I said I'd like this story to end before the new year, and that goal is still true, so I hope to see you all the entire way through.**

 **Leave a review, if you have anything to say, but I hope to see you next time anyway.**

 **Love you, B.**


	77. Worlds-7

It came in like a wave, crushing him downwards- a veritable tsunami of emotion. Even with Gamer's Mind working overdrive, he felt it, and it hurt.

There wasn't much actual pain- and what little there was seemed more a coincidence of the newly formed migraine, rather than anything else. The thoughts, though... They teemed within him, splitting his psyche in a number of directions as he wrestled for enough control to even move.

He was frozen, like a statue, and forced to watch as his enemies prepared themselves.

Individual soul fragments grew to encompass a heart shape, their colors the only thing differentiating them physically at this point. That rapidly changed, as bodies formed around them, but even the process for that was varied.

Akumu took the simple approach- the soul itself simply expanding into a sphere with only eyes and a cavernous maw. It's pink color did little to offset the look in its eyes, nor the way its teeth pulled back in a viscous smile.

Holestus didn't take a body, opting instead to take on a vague silhouette that he could only barely focus on. Even knowing it was dangerous, and trying to watch it with _his_ eyes, he couldn't determine anything specific about its new form.

Norengen took the most mundane approach of them all. It's dark red 'flesh' simply appeared, allowing it to take an animalistic body, albeit one he couldn't recognize. It had feline legs and claws, along with a similar jaw, but it's actual body was more like a bear. The added weight didn't seem to bother it, as it didn't so much as disturb the ground when it- unlike the rest- fell down.

Poleander actually reminded him of Flowey, though with the petal formation a little off. It's body was entirely black, except for its red eyes and blisteringly white teeth which were currently smiling in Asriel's direction.

Elerose looked incredibly human. He- and it was definitely a he, with the proportions of his undoubtedly adult body- stood taller than the rest and seemed to stand on the air rather than levitate. His gaze was sharp, as iris-less eyes peered ominously down on him.

Seether was complicated, and he didn't seem capable of settling on a form. His body- if you were willing to even call it that when it was continuously contorting around and through itself while changing sizes- was just a mass of writhing orange tendrils and limbs randomly assembled over and over. His title seemed incredibly fitting, given that it couldn't have been anything less than pain to exist like that.

And then there was Despair. Despair didn't transform at all, the gray heart simply bobbing up in the air above them all. Despite that, there was a sense that it was aware of them all, but simply chose to do nothing. Whether it couldn't, or simply wasn't, it's transformation remained unknown.

He didn't believe for a second that was the end of it, but the less enemies he had to fight in the moment, the better.

 **The effects of [Terror] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

 **The effects of [Hatred] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

 **The effects of [Agony] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

 **The effects of [Despair] have been partially negated by Gamer's Mind!**

Draga fell forward, collapsing to his knees as control was finally given back to him. He didn't sit there- couldn't, since Norengen was already pouncing towards him.

Appearing a small distance away, Draga brought his hands together to unveil a torrent of flames. It burned white- the very air conspiring to burn it hotter as it moved- and it subsumed Norengen entirely.

Not that it mattered, when the beast just lunged for him again, completely unaffected by the blaze still licking at its figurative fur.

He raised his hands to block, his various strength enhancements coming to bare as he Braced himself for the strike.

Despite his best efforts, it almost trivially broke through his guard, and a single lash of its paws sent him flying.

Draga didn't even get a chance to stop himself from careening wildly through the air, since Elerose did it for him. He blurred through the air, seeming to just appear above him to deliver an ax kick directly into his back.

One reconstituted spine- and a reunion with the ground- later, Draga groaned into the pulverized stone.

At the very least, he only had to deal with those two. Akumu was attacking Sans while Holestus and Seether took on Gaster.

 _Wait, that's only fi-_

Vines rose up from the ground, ensnaring his limbs and tugging him slightly further into the ground.

 _No, no, it's cool universe. I've probably done some shit to deserve this._

Flames erupted all around him, which did prove effective against the vines at least. Norengen, as before, simply lept through them to attack him.

It didn't get that far, all told, as time stopped. Draga stood, withdrawing his sword and chambering a strike.

The second ended as quickly as it began, and if Norengen was bothered by Draga effectively teleporting and manifesting a sword, he didn't show it on his face- assuming that was even possible. He did, however, react to the swing itself.

Not by dying, unfortunately. That would be much too convenient.

Whatever it was made of was malleable, but also incredibly durable, and it just slammed the claws of one paw into his blade to force it down. The rest of it was still barreling forward.

There wasn't another hit, thankfully, but only because he teleported a short distance away.

 _Okay, Norengen is out for now. Elerose is too fast, as well, and it wouldn't be a good idea to get more people attacking me by siding with one of the others..._

That left one obvious, but still annoying as hell, option out to him. Poleander was underground, and moving very quickly for being in such a state, but he'd shown vulnerability to his attacks before. Anything he could hurt he could kill, even if reality would normally have said otherwise.

 **Pemutus Bumi (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100000**

 **The ground is an unstable thing. Despite the impressive hardness of stone, it quakes under pressure, and sheer power dwarfs inertia almost all of the time. Earthquakes are common- occurring thousands of times a day- but the power is frequently absent. Perhaps you could give it a little push?**

 **By striking the ground with sufficient force, the user can summon an earthquake of comparable scale.**

 **Scales increases based on Intelligence, Strength, Earth affinity, and skill level.**

Given his levels with the other, it was actually more expensive than Tachyon, hence why he'd never bothered to try it out. Now was as good a time as any. Energy pooled in his fist, his hand glowing a pale blue as it came crashing down.

Elerose moved to stop him, but he still needed time to pass, so a quick doubling of the techniques price gave him free reign to make contact.

And man was it glorious.

Or it probably would be if he had any levels with the skill, a high strength, or even an Earth affinity in the first place.

 **Through special action, the skill [Earth] has been created!**

 _Speak of the devil._ It probably wouldn't make much difference in the power of the technique, but hey- useful.

On that note, the attack wasn't completely without purpose. It might not have shattered the very core of the earth or summoned an earthquake capable of wiping away cities, which would certainly have been convenient, but a tunnel carved into the ground was still useful.

For evading Elerose, primarily. As time resumed, and the man came down in another devastating kick, he found a hole instead.

One filled with fire.

In his defense, he did react almost instantly to the change in surroundings. Elerose stopped his downward momentum- somehow- and floated some distance above the hole. Defending himself carried information, though- specifically that he was vulnerable to damage.

 _Perfect._

Though Draga couldn't see properly through the flames, he still saw Norengen racing towards the hole, and understandably didn't want to just wait around. Even though he could teleport above it as it fell, that would put him back into Eleroses range.

Instead, he thrust his hand into one of the tunnel walls, creating another passage- horizontal this time, and leading in Poleanders direction.

Not nearly hard enough to get at it, unfortunately. The plant like creature was actually faster than Flowey had been and reacted before his hand made contact, allowing it to easily evade the destruction, and leaving him without any real target.

Norengen crashed into the ground where he stood a second earlier, already prepared to strike again, except for one little detail. Namely, it couldn't sense him.

Funny thing, really. Bathe an area in flames thick enough and smell is burned away, sight is blocked, and the roar outweighs any footsteps or breathing- not that he had to breathe, or would try when the entire tunnel system was currently being visited by a torrent of hellfire.

Granted, it wasn't permanent, as his next attack would certainly be loud enough, but it bought him time enough to regenerate his mana. Both hands began to glow with power, but he didn't attack right away. Instead, he let the attack sit, to get that little extra bit of MP to work with.

And then he struck. Not at the walls, for that wouldn't really hit Poleander and more tunnel space wasn't really what he needed.

No- he struck at an enemy he'd written off earlier.

Draga lunged for Norengen, right arm pulled back as he came in for a devastating strike. He could see it- it couldn't see him- it was a perfect time to strike.

If he hadn't hesitated at the last second.

Maybe three feet from Norengen, he froze, and a wave of doubt came over him. It was unnatural- and he knew it was- but it just felt so real. Could he win? It was resistant to his attacks before, and was clearly stronger than him.

Sensing him- whether through mundane means or some cruel empathic version of echolocation- it chose to attack in his stead.

Draga was becoming increasingly thankful for his time altering powers. Despite being a skill, Tachyon took actual concentration to activate. Acceleration, on the other hand, was almost instinctual by now, and with the added time, Gamer's Mind was able to kick in before he was hit.

Pemetus Bumi- or simply Bumi, as he'd abbreviate it to in the future- was still ready in his hands, and, having already lept at him, Norengen was in no position to defend.

A vicious grin grew on Draga's face as he slammed both fists into the creatures chest.

Wind whipped through the enclosed space, tearing apart the walls of the tunnels just as it blew the flames out into the cavern above. Draga ignored that entirely, Lunging forward and using the added force of his attack to crash Norengen into the far wall.

Stone gave way as he drove the inhuman spirit forward, visibly chipping away at it on both sides, all the while it flailed its clawed arms out uselessly- any cuts were simply ignored as he pressed further and further into the ground.

The impact wore off too early to win- but Draga merely smiled, summoning the same skill into his hands and striking again. The knockback effect itself offered him the time needed to regain his spent mana, allowing him to keep up the pressure indefinitely.

Finally, with the sound of glass breaking, the animalistic shell shattered.

Draga released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and took a step back to examine what remained. It was the same maroon heart thing from earlier- obviously- but cracks were visible in its structure. It was breakable, then?

Sparks formed in his hand, coming together into a small red ember. It grew from there- not in size, but intensity, as it transitioned from a dim red, a deep orange, and finally a burning white. It didn't stop there, though- the energy building as it finally reached the pale blue of three thousand degrees.

The conflagration reshapes itself into something resembling a spike, finally completing its formation.

 _Goodbye._

Blue met red, the both of them shaking violently on contact, but one had to take the victory in the end.

With the tiniest of sounds, it snapped in half and dissolved, the light leaking into the nearby air- though the vanishing of the nameplate gave away its ultimate fate. Seven levels also gave it away, along with the gold, mask, and book which appeared on the ground near him.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [Gorgon]!**

 **Would you like to use it?**

 **Y/N**

Obviously yes.

 **Gorgon (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 1000, 1000 per second**

 **The eyes are the windows to the soul, and the doors. Like mice beneath the serpent's predatory gaze, targets of this ability find themselves frozen in fear. By carefully manipulating the light of their soul around one's eyes, the user can intimidate or paralyze his foes.**

 **Effective range and strength scale up with level, skill level, and down with targets level.**

Draga smiled, turning to the mask.

 **Pavor**

 **A bestial mask, crafted from thoroughly enchanted wood and engraved with arcane runes. It's eyes wield the vision of a predator, detecting heat, while the mask itself changes how the wielder is perceived. It's harder to notice them, but once they are seen, they become impossible to miss.**

As it cave over his face, nothing really changed. The nature of Clairvoyance was a little beyond the magic in this, but the ability to hide your presence could not be understated, and neither could acting as a beacon for attention.

Pavor was comfortable too, tiny slits producing the friction needed to keep it on in place of the hooks, latches, or ribbons more common to masks. Perhaps if he needed to breathe, or was limited by the eyeholes, it would be less useful, but he _didn't_ have to deal with those things.

The gold was left to sit there as Draga returned to the surface, having already scanned the locations of his opponents. Poleander was still underground, trying to stay out of range while keeping Draga in its own. That was actually why he targeted Norengen- he was on the opposite side and, thus, out of range for the seconds it took to take him out.

Poleander likely wouldn't make that mistake again, but he was still running support. He was clearly more vulnerable than the others.

Elerose was the more concerning of the two- having gone to reinforce his brethren in the other battle after he'd gone underground. At the moment, he was sticking back, taking out the giant skulls Gaster or Sans manifested while leaving the other three to actually take them out.

Was he limited in endurance?

Oh- there was just one other thing he could see now- their levels.

Excluding Despair, which was still impossible to see, they were all exactly level one hundred.

 _Speaking of levels..._

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: None**

 **Title: The Blessed**

 **Level: LVL50**

 **HP: 2150(2478)**

 **MP: 435375(435703)**

 **Str: 17(86)**

 **Vit: 10(43)**

 **Dex: 50(438.6)**

 **Int: 135(580.5)**

 **Wis: 50(215)**

 **Luk: 10**

 **Points: 35**

 **Height: 6'3"**

 **Weight: 178**

 **Money: ?**

 **Status Effects**

Draga chuckled to himself, dropping the points readily into his intelligence and closing the menu. The raw mana and bonuses to his attack skills far outweighed anything he'd realistically get from those same points.

He didn't leap into the fray right away, though. With only Poleander obviously aware of his presence, Draga chose to prepare an attack first.

It was actually a skill he'd neglected in his previous lives, but one he'd clearly already had.

 **Langit Sanjata (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

The evolved form of Astral Flail- the ability to manifest virtually anything through magic. It was like having an infinite armory which you could freely control- but it had fallen aside due to the cost and his inability to regain mana against Tzeentchs avatar.

Now, it was _time_ for a little fun.

Under the guise of Tachyon, pale blue chains stretched out from his hand. They reached a little over two dozen feet before stopping. The skill was flexible to a ridiculous extent, allowing him to change the tips of it at will, so why bother limiting himself?

As time resumed, Draga surged forward, whipping his chains around like they weighed nothing- which, they basically did. Any property he wished, he could change on a whim- for a price.

Elerose and Holestus- the two humanoid creatures- were able to dodge easily enough, with Elerose and particular doing the aerial equivelant of a sidestep each time, almost looking bored.

Holestus was as impossible to read as ever, given that he couldn't even see its face, but he was a lot less composed with his dodging. He was still acrobatic- using flips, high jumps, and even twists in midair to maneuver around any given attack- but it was clear that he couldn't fly, which was a pretty big disadvantage.

And then there was Akumu, who was still attacking Sans, and Seether. The latter was definitely the most boring of the combatants, since the writhing mass of tentacles never even attempted to dodge, but what little damage any blades, bludgeons, or spears were capable of was simply overwritten by its ridiculous regeneration abilities. Akumu was more interesting, though no less annoying, since it simply opened its gaping maw of a body at ate whatever he threw at him.

There wasn't any obvious increase of power, since his level never changed and he didn't gain any size off of it, but it was clear that attacking him wasn't going to work either.

While overall ineffectual, his attacks were a notable distraction, even as his mana recouped from the expenditure. Sans was able to back off from Akumu, once it was distracted eating a gigantic flail he'd struck it with, while only Seether was able to properly attack Gaster in those moments.

Their preparations were integral to the fight- particularly Gaster, who warped a considerable distance away before flexing his hands- all eight of them.

What the game helpfully identified as 'Gaster's Blaster', a singular title as opposed to the more common summoned skull both him and Sans had been throwing about, manifested above him. It was monstrous in size- easily larger than entire houses back on Disboard, and its gaping maw dug into the ground several feet when it only opened part of the way.

It was at that moment when Draga decided to be somewhere else, and triggered Tachyon.

Good timing, too, since the beam was already half of the way towards him. Light speed, then? It certainly resembled a laser on the superficial level, being dazzlingly bright on every spectrum he could identify and traveling at ridiculous speeds, but it could also just be something soul related.

Draga did a quick headcount to confirm who was in the way- noting that only Sans and Akumu were outside the beam radius.

Well, and Poleander, but he was becoming less of a threat the more he thought of-

Draga paused, looking down towards his feet. They were ensnared by vines.

 _But when...?_

A burst of flames quickly broke them down into nothing, but they were just as quickly replaced as they reached further and further up his body. In a panic, Draga flooded his teleportation ring, only to remember that it didn't work in stopped time.

He was screwed. He would have to resume time in order to get out of this, and would have to dodge a light speed attack from less than thirty feet away.

Just slightly outside the effective radius of the attack, the flower emerged from the ground, its mouth spread in a shit eating grin. It laughed, for but a moment, before giving him a few parting words. "Stopping time, huh? What a wonderful idea."

 _SON OF A FUCKING SHIT BI-_

His swearing tirade was brought to a close before it could truly begin, the mana needed for Tachyon running dry and bringing his time to an end.

The world was consumed by white.

* * *

 **Ah, my little monster. This must be how parents feel- barely two minutes old, and already drawing first blood against someone so strong.**

 **This chapter wasn't quite as fun to write as I originally thought, since I'd originally meant for Langit Sanjata to be more effective- summoning innumerable weapons and making it impossible to dodge- but then I actually went over the price table I'd created...**

 **Yeah, no. There was actually a lot of math involved in this chapter, and if that statement alone doesn't make your very being quiver in fear, I had to do complex interconnected geometry and calculus because I'm a sadist.**

 **That's actually why this wasn't released Friday, which was my original intent. I literally couldn't get it done on time, since I had to rewrite the middle section due to my own inability to simplify shit.**

 **At least it worked for its purpose, in the end, allowing for Gaster to pull out the big guns.**

 **See you all next week- hopefully on Friday, so I can keep the planned schedule without a few sleepless nights.**

 **Onwards and forwards.**


	78. Worlds-8

**Happy Hallows Eve, everyone! Hope you're all enjoying the holiday- I know I'm not, quite yet. I'm writing this at about 6:40, and haven't actually gotten to do anything yet.**

 **However, it's totally worth it to get this out to you guys on time. I realize this is coming out at midnight, so you won't actually be able to enjoy it _on_ Halloween, but hey, I tried.**

 **And considering this was supposed to come out on Friday, and even that would be early, I consider it a worthwhile wait.**

 **For anyone wondering, I will be going as the Russian Mattress Salesman, Vladimir Palpovich, of my own creation back in Sketch Comedy.**

 **Oh, and while I've got you all here, I got a question.**

* * *

When the light finally faded, it wasn't to an obliterated cavern, or even the infinite expanse of his soul from back with Grim. No... He awoke to grassy plains, stretching out for miles over rolling hills, and a bright blue sky without a cloud in sight.

His abilities were all inactive, though a quick test confirmed he could still summon fire or lightning, which meant he wasn't in the last afterlife he'd seen- at least.

Literally nothing about the world around him seemed out of the ordinary, at least innately, and that set him on edge instantly. He was here, after all, after being hit with a gigantic laser weapon. This wasn't exactly his idea of an afterlife, but he wasn't the one who got to make that decision, now was he?

Draga quickly checked his character page, finding nothing of note. His stats, level, non-existent class, and even status effect had been left unchanged.

 _Gee, I'm_ not _suspicious at_ _all_.

There was not a single place he had ever been as unusually barren, while still completely mundane, as this place. Disboard always had the sky, which had magic visible even to him, whereas it was blank even to his far greater vision. In turn, there weren't any underground caves or tunnels, or even small insects or worms digging into the ground.

It was like some level creator just got bored after making a terrain map and never came back to it. Hell- it didn't even smell unusual for a grassy plain, and he had a pretty keen sense of smell with Extrasensory Perception.

He sighed, turning instead to the menus which surrounded him. He generally left a few open all the time, like his character and skills page, but had actually left a number of notifications gained during or before the fight open.

A few skill notifications, a bunch of levels, one of the options menus- _ooh, a new title._ Gotta check that out later.

And then there was one.

 **You have died!**

 _God fucking dammit._

"Oh? Not gonna call me by name?"

Draga's left eye twitched at the childlike voice from behind him, instantly recognizing the source of all of his problems. "Hello, _Tet,_ " he spat, turning his head just enough to glare at him through one eye. "And to what do I owe this _joyous occasion_?"

"You hadn't realized yet?" he asked with a coy smile. "Man, I thought I was being really obvious with the whole 'You have died!' thing, but I always have thought the best about you humans."

"Asshole," Draga replied only partly sarcastic, which only made him smile wider. He turned fully, crossing his arms but otherwise letting it go- sure, he was giving Tet exactly what he wanted by doing so, but he wouldn't accomplish anything by turning down what amounts to a thirteen year old with reality warping powers. "So why visit me now? You of all people would know that I could have used your help, oh, when I was being _obliterated_ _from_ _the_ _timeline_ _by_ _a_ _demonic_ _triangle_!?"

"I really thought you would have figured it out," Tet sighed, shaking his head as he lowered himself to the ground. "Bill Cipher is one of the single most powerful beings in existence, Draga- more powerful than me and many other gods, due to the simple fact that his powers aren't even limited by the universe he's in. The only real limitations are in regards to his physical form, which can be bypassed, and is actually why he was in contact with Tzeentch. Knowing that, don't you think that- if he wanted you truly dead- you would be?"

 _He... Wasn't trying to kill me?_

"It's important to remember just what you represent- a hope. While I am stronger on Disboard than Bill would be, Tzeentch knows that and is actively avoiding universes with gods like me in them. The Game lets me bypass this, by manipulating the power of your Primordial instead of my own, which can let you grow strong enough to battle Tzeentch directly."

The stern expression he had, in direct contrast with his usual outfit and demeanor, lead Draga to remain silent. This was what The Game was? His entire previous lives- all the pain he'd been through- was originally meant to take down Tzeentch?

"Believe me- I wish I could help you in more ways than just this, but he is a god of change. If I tamper with The Game, or you, he will notice." He pursed his lips. "If he found you as you are now, you would die, as would everyone else. Tzeentch is functionally immortal and has existed since the dawn of time- that's why we need your primordial in order to fight him."

 _So he doesn't even need me- he needs the magic space god living within me._

Figures.

"I get why I should help, and I plan to- for Disboard, if not necessarily you- but I still have a few questions to ask." Tet nodded tersely, gesturing for him to continue. "The biggest one is- how is this a representation of my wish?"

"Huh?"

"The entire reason for me choosing not to become a god, when I spoke with you, was a realization of how meaningless it would be. How boring and pointless my infinite existence would become. Despite that- here I stand, about to repeat the exact mistake the Primordials made _on you request_ by becoming more powerful than God. What was stopping you from just taking the Primordial out of me, fulfilling my wish, and using the damn thing yourself?"

Silence- no wind, nor rustling of grass, nor even breathing since neither required air to breath.

Tet didn't say anything.

That was answer enough.

"I think we're done here, Tet," Draga snapped, turning away. "I failed- and you said yourself that your powers don't extend outside of Disboard." He let out an aggrieved sigh. "You have no idea how hard I want to be angry at you, but I literally can't- which only make me want it even more."

Draga fell back onto the grass, having lost the mental energy to stand.

"What do you expect from me, Tet?" he asked, looking up towards the blank sky. "Sora and Shiro would both fail in my position- even working together- thanks to the sheer scale of the problem and the lack of time to prepare. I can't even reliably beat one of them, so I really need to know- what do you want?"

Tet remained silent, watching him with a solemn expression.

"That's what I thought," Draga said, ending the conversation by rolling onto his side.

"You're an idiot."

 _Or not, apparently._

"Kettle calling the silverware black, Tet. I tried, and for someone with no forewarning and missing so many pieces, I think I did a pretty damn good job." He turned his head just enough to level a glare on him. "It's not like you put too much effort into helping me- I remember starting with a blessing the first time; what happened to that, oh sacred one?"

"I'm not calling you an idiot because you failed, Draga," Tet remarked, pointedly keeping his expression and tone neutral. "I'm calling you an idiot because you _think_ you failed."

Draga's eyes narrowed dangerously- if you could call it that, with the power difference between them- as he rose to his feet. "And how didn't I fail, then? _I'm dead!_ I lost to someone who would be inconsequential to Tzeentch- an afterthought in his plans, if he was deserving of any attention or note in the first place. How am I supposed to even ascend to the scale of an infinite god through finite numbers, anyway!?"

"Limitless power wouldn't win the-"

"IT WOULD HELP!" Draga roared, gripping the Gods collar in one fist and shoving him back a step. "It would offer me a chance to stand at the same god damn table instead of being casually thrown around or disintegrated on a whim! Even if it wouldn't be enough to kill Tzeentch, _not dying_ is my top priority, dammit!"

Tet didn't answer right away, his eyes trailing down to the hand gripping his shirt. He didn't look particularly angry about it- which was just another infuriating thing to add to the near infinite pile. "And how do you suggest I give that power to you, then, Draga?" The God raised one hand, using it to peel his grip apart as he locked eyes with him. "Should I change The Game, instantly alerting him to your presence and getting you killed? How about awakening your primordial directly, which would only be possible by destroying you body and soul- which I actually wouldn't mind, if I thought for a second it would actually listen to me."

Draga growled, but didn't have a retort. That didn't mean the argument was over, though. Why was this even his job? Surely there were other Gods out there- or even a primordial more powerful than his- that could deal with Tzeentch; he even had a physical body, for crying out loud.

But he didn't say that. If Tet thought it was possible, he would have done it already and this issue wouldn't exist.

More than anything, though, he just wanted to lie down and let it end. Whether Tet thought he could pull a solution out of his ass or not, he was dead, and bringing him back to life would be just as apparent as changing the game. Hell- for all he knew, that change to the life system could have been what alerted Tzeentch in the first place, bringing this whole thing about.

He was finished, and yet... He didn't want to leave it like this. If Tzeentch won- truly won- he could only imagine the horrors he would inflict. It was unlikely he'd take over the entire omniverse, seeing as he likely couldn't oppose all powerful beings like Tet directly, but any all universes without them would be defenseless.

A breath escaped him in a sigh as he let his head fall. "Just tell me what to do, Tet. No more games."

The God almost smiled at that- almost, since it died an ugly death the instant Draga caught sight of it- and deigned to actually answer his question straight for once. "The laws of reality are different in other universes- more than just the presence of magic and the like. The one you were in actually features two different ways for someone to revive themselves, only one of which _you_ can use, but it's quite simple, really." Tet smiled. "All you need is to be determined enough to do something."

Dragas gaze softened, only for his eyes to narrow again a second later. "And this is exactly why I need to be told things, Tet. So many of my problems would be solved if you just made me aware of shit ahead of time."

"And I apologize for that, but you said yourself that gaining power wasn't really going to help. You needed to explore realities- gain understanding and come up with a creative solution. I couldn't give you an answer to Tzeentch."

He sighed, letting it go with one final huff. "Fine- but I want in on record that I'm not doing this for you."

"Whatever floats your goat," Tet remarked, smirking.

"Hey!" he shouted back, though far more embarrassed than angry. "That was one time!"

"A lot more than that, bucko- we have an omniverse, remember? You've done that more than _I_ can count."

 _Ugh,_ Draga internally groaned, turning away to hide the inklings of a smile. He knew what Tet was doing, and while he appreciated the results, there was no denying how manipulative it was at heart.

Strange how it was comforting to be back in the realm of mind games over actual combat.

"It's time to go, Draga."

"I know..."

 _Not for you, but for them._

For Sora- the man responsible for who he'd become and for the chance to play the game in the first place. A friend- the best of friends- and someone he could rely on to help solve any problem the world over.

For Shiro- the smartest woman he knew, and the one behind his chess skills. A gamer- and Gamer, though he knew next to nothing about how that turned out- who stood beside him and Sora the whole way.

For Kirase- the demon who raised him after his arrival on Disboard, who became a brother in all but blood. A king, and the best of them.

For Mesan- the dead engineer who'd sacrificed himself to save his life. An honorable man, damned by the world he was born into.

For Langit- the first Flugel he'd met, his first lover, and the one who made the conquering of the Dwarves possible.

For Schwarz, or Grim- the cursed god, and one of his few long term companions across this chaotic journey.

For Steph- the useless nag, who still managed to keep a nation running in their stead.

For Artosh- the grumpiest of bastards, but the most loyal of partners.

For the creatures he'd killed along the way in pursuit of power.

For the people he'd left behind to die.

Draga paused, closing his eyes and letting his thoughts settle.

 _For me._

 **You're filled with Determination!**

His Aura came alive around him- not through any conscious effort, mind you. It sprung up around him, the normally white glow tinted a vibrant and deep red, and it vibrated in perfect tandem with the beat of his heart.

It burned- like the warmth he was used to in overdrive- and the sheer power of it shot a wind out in all directions.

Annoyingly, the grass remained completely motionless as the wind whipped by it, but he was willing to let the inconsistency of the world go to simply... Not quite enjoy, since it was actually quite painful, but take in the experience.

In what felt like a blink, where his vision blurred as he was pulled through The Veil, he was gone.

* * *

The cavern was noticeably larger when he arrived, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

Draga didn't pay it any mind, nor the distinct scent of plasma which permeate the air. Instead, he flicked his gaze around, taking note of the entire battlefield.

Most of the enemies were understandably missing. Poleander has obviously dodged the attack, but was apparently taken down after the fact, while Elerose, Seether, and Holestus had been in the way of the blast. With Norengen destroyed by him earlier, that left only one: Akumu. Speaking of- the Terror Of The Void had actually gained levels somehow, as it was no longer visible, as it had been before he'd been killed.

Unfortunately, Akumu was the only one in the entire room, with both Sans and Gaster missing entirely- not even a corpse left behind. Or, at least, discounting the soul of Despair which still floated at the top of the room.

The abomination- for what else could you call a creature which only had holes where eyes would be and a cavernous maw- turned in his direction. It smiled, two foot long teeth sharpening as he viciously grinned at its new 'prey'.

If only it knew.

 **Status Effects**

 **Determination [High]**

 **Increases all stats by 187%.**

 **Upon death, the soul will manifest itself anew.**

Draga chuckled to himself darkly. It had been a long time since he'd had fun crushing something so utterly, and this was going to be so... _Satisfying._

 **Background Music enabled: Time And Time Again, Draco Murdock**

A heavy drum beat kicked in immediately, followed shortly by a rising bass line. Only two seconds into the song, it was already in full swing.

 **Made to start- ready to burn!**

Before Akumu could make a move, Draga knelt to the ground, making contact with one hand. Fire spread out in a wave, coating the ground, walls, and ceiling in an orange glow.

 **Make it count- it's your turn.**

Tachyon took hold before the wall of fire actually reached Akumu, who was already preparing to eat it. In that second, instead of a conflagration, a lightning coated form burst straight through his mouth and out the back.

 **Ready or not, here I come.**

Time resumed, allowing the actual force of the attack to blow a large part of his form apart. It splattered across the ground, too washed out to even appear as gore, but that wouldn't have stopped his next attack either way. As Draga came to a stop, using the teleportation ring to negate his momentum- the same was not applied to the lantern he withdrew.

 **Bring the fight! Come get some!**

Thresh's lantern raged, the ghastly flames lashing out through the slightly more mundane firestorm to devour the split pieces of Akumu's soul. Akumu himself didn't burn, shielding himself somehow, but that was merely a setback.

 **I've been here so long, raring to go.**

The lantern swung around in a wide arch, more than a hundred pounds of steel coming in for a direct strike. He moved- his body folding in on itself just long enough to spring off the ground.

 **I'll always be here for one last blow.**

The ring glowed again, bring both him _and_ the lantern up just high enough to hit him anyway.

 **So you can take it, knocking one of us away.**

Akumu's body was malleable, allowing it to fold it's body over the weapon rather than explode like a soul crafted balloon, and it was springing off of that a second later to gain some distance.

 **It doesn't matter- I'll always be back one day.**

Draga kept pace easily, swapping the lantern out quickly for a sword. Closing the distance almost instantly, he swung Sverð af hvítum downwards, only for the blade to strike a suddenly appearing bone. It was similar to the femur, if not for the flawless symmetry.

 **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.**

Sans- alive again, in a sense- growled at him, "You left us to die!" Bones rose up in a wall behind, blocking access to Akumu, while he manifested one of those giant skulls above him.

 **I released my soul, and took my final breath.**

Another Tachyon brought more than enough time to punch straight through the extra undead skeleton, dismissing his nameplate in a single attack, while weakening the wall behind him.

 **Back again, with the flowers and the birds.**

Draga surged forward, easily breaking through the now ordinary bones, and approaching the still fleeing Akumu. As before, he was stopped, this time by a blue cable of sorts that wrapped around his chest from behind and dragged him back.

 **I will move; going onwards and forwards.**

One quick teleport had him out, still racing after his target, and utterly ignoring Gaster. He wasn't himself anymore- corrupted by Akumu somehow- and he could be dealt with after the main body, if he even persisted.

 **You can try to stop me, and I'm sure it will work.**

White light consumed Draga's body, draining his HP down to nothing almost instantly. When that proved unable to stop him- Draga simply sprinting forward despite it- Gaster himself moved between them with all floating hands prepped to strike.

 **No matter how you win, I'll still kill with this dirk.**

Black beams shot out- actually accented for once, and by a rather nice looking red hue as well- and tore apart Draga's body at what must have been an atomic level. That proved insufficient, as the Sword Of White's kill count suddenly increased by one.

 **Growing stronger and faster, all of the time.**

Levels surged through him- two, to be exact- having actually benefited from the kill this time. Not surprising, since Gaster's level shone a brilliant 100 after being revived. Akumu, by contrast, had actually lost power, becoming that very level once more.

 **Getting higher and higher- I'll beat this climb.**

Akumu had gained quite a considerable distance, both by running away and leaping up- beginning to eat through the ceiling. Smart- or it would have been, if he didn't have speed and strength more than sufficient to follow despite lacking flight.

 **Battered and broken- weathered and worn.**

Draga made to trigger Tachyon, only to find the MP missing, and sighing. He'd wasted so much, in dealing with the other two, and hadn't actually been bothering to conserve the relevant amounts. He needed a plan.

 **Reckless and undead- here for the storm.**

What energy he had collected in his hands, sparking even before he transforming it into electricity. It shot upwards- not as a single beam, but a chaotic spray which made it impossible to dodge or consume entirely. It certainly tried the latter, though, turning around and opening its monstrous jaws to eat whatever energy it could.

 **No matter the weapons, no matter the tools.**

Despite eating the majority of the lightning that threatened it, it had to stop digging in that time, making it pause for a few seconds. Unfortunate, that, since it gave him time to regenerate his mana.

 **I'll show you all one day- that you were all fools.**

Akumu turned away- it's last mistake- and continued it's futile attempt to escape. Two seconds wasted were all it took to seal its fate.

 **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.**

Time froze, but also seemed to slow in Draga's vision as he threw every enhancement he could think of on at once. A single Lunge closed the distance one final time, swinging Sverð af hvítum in the fight ending strike.

 **I release your soul, and take your final breath.**

As Akumu split apart, unable to even keep its globular form, Thresh's lantern came out once more. The hungry magic within tore at it, consuming its spirit whole and finally killing the inhuman creature.

The song ended moments later, the music simply fading out. It didn't seem like the song itself was actually over, but that The Game was doing its best to cut out two minutes or so early.

And with that, Draga was left with only one remaining opponent.

"Hello, Despair," he called out, dropping from the hole Akumu had dug up into the rock. "It's been a while." And it had- he'd gained a number of levels, an immense amount of strength, and regained his motivation. Even a few minutes could feel like a week, with all that's happened in it- and some time acceleration, because of course. "I'm going to defeat you."

It didn't react in the slightest, not that he expected it to.

He doubted it could, and for good reason. One of the few things he could understand- now that he had determination, in ridiculous quantities thanks to how The Game was treating it- was just what despair actually was.

The absence of willpower.

Despair could very well have been powerful enough to defeat him, but it wasn't going to. It wouldn't try, because it felt purposeless and lacking in direction. At best, it would defend itself if he attacked it.

Given that it's level was _still_ unseen, it should come as no surprise that he didn't feel like doing that.

But it was still a bonus objective, and one he planned to complete. It did say to 'defeat' it, after all, and thankfully never specified how.

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: None**

 **Title: The Blessed**

 **Level: LVL54**

 **HP: 6170(6498)**

 **MP: 1258782(** **1259110** **)**

 **Str: 17(419.594)**

 **Vit: 10(123.41)**

 **Dex: 50(1258.782)**

 **Int: 170(2097.97)**

 **Wis: 50(617.05)**

 **Luk: 10(28.7)**

 **Points: 20**

 **Height: 6'3"**

 **Weight: 178**

 **Money: ?**

 **Status Effects**

 **Determination [High]**

 **Increases all stats by 187%.**

 **Upon death, the soul will manifest itself anew.**

Funny thing, really. He'd had a skill for a while- ever since reaching 100 Intelligence- but had never had the mana to use it. Even at a decent level, it was stupidly expensive- having been exactly one million in the beginning.

 **Abyss (Active) LVL16 EXP: 0.00% MP:988000**

 **The Abyss is a realm of nothingness, but everything was born from nothing. Acquiring items or energy from nothing must then allow you to attain everything, yes?**

 **Reach into the Abyss and pull out something. The item or energy acquired is random, but the closeness to what you are looking for can be increased with Int and skill level.**

It was a skill he had religiously spammed every moment he could in the preparation for the battle ahead, yet he'd failed to simply wait long enough. If he'd given it time, he could have gradually acquired any number of the passive skill in every universe, becoming impossibly powerful.

Not to the scale of Tzeentch, but at least able to properly contend with and defeat his avatar in Ozpin.

All he'd need to do is farm levels and acquire unique traits- physical abilities he could acquire from an ability that was still locked, but which he remembered quite well- Consume.

For now, though, it served a very different purpose.

Nearly a million mana later, Draga reached a hand forward, into what was almost indistinguishable from his inventory, except for what it actually withdrew. It was dead, now, but more than sufficient for his needs.

 _Hello Frisk._

Despair reacted almost instantly to its presence, edging closer as cracks began to form in its outermost layer. It hesitated when it seemed to recognize that he was holding the child's corpse, but that hesitation vanished the moment he set it down and stepped back.

It flew forward, impacting the body almost instantly and shattering the gray clout that had taken over its surface. A unique interaction, to be sure, but not because of who it was born from. Despair was different from the others, entirely because of what it was a corruption of. A lack of will, due to complete submission and inability to accomplish anything.

 **[LVL1]**

 **Frisk, The Lost Child**

"Welcome back," he said as her eyes flickered open. His did too, with a number of new lights behind them.

 **Quest Complete**

* * *

 **For anyone interested, here is the full version of Time And Time Again. Obviously, the musical accompaniment isn't there, but what can you do? If I could have music installed into my books, I'd do that too, but I can't...**

 **Made to start- ready to burn!**

 **Make it count- it's your turn.**

 **Ready or not, here I come.**

 **Bring the fight! Come get some!**

 **I've been here so long, raring to go.  
** **I'll always be here for one last blow.**

 **So you can take it, knocking one of us away.  
** **It doesn't matter- I'll always be back one day.  
** **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.  
** **I released my soul, and took my final breath.**

 **Back again, with the flowers and the birds.  
** **I will move; going onwards and forwards.  
** **You can try to stop me, and I'm sure it will work.  
** **No matter how you win, I'll still kill with this dirk.**

 **Growing stronger and faster, all of the time.  
** **Getting higher and higher- I'll beat this climb.  
** **Battered and broken- weathered and worn.  
** **Reckless and undead- here for the storm.**

 **No matter the weapons, no matter the tools.  
** **I'll show you all one day- that you were all fools.  
** **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.  
** **I release your soul, and take your final breath.**

 **I know of you, Tzeentch, and infinity is tough. One victory is hardly enough.  
I have forever- an unlimited number of chances- so I know you'll fall to my advances.**

 **Lightning, and fire, and destruction alive.  
I'll die once again, another test drive.  
Kill me again- again and again.  
Parts of the puzzle- an unknown plan.**

 **And I love the way you 'hurt' me.**

 **My blade shall set you free.**

 **The past is but a memory- what is a real life now?  
The Game is all consuming, but I'll beat it somehow.  
Every time I try, I know I'm gonna die,  
But the quest is for a life where I can stop living this lie.  
**

 **Take a minute to remember to breathe.  
I often forget that I even have a sheathe.  
What's the point of fighting- what's at stake?  
Oh yeah- you have a face I've gotta break.**

 **Trying to take my friends- my lovers- my family?  
**

 **A nice dream- that you could ever get past me.**

 **I know of you, Tzeentch, and that surrender is a bluff. Two victories are hardly enough.  
** **I have forever- an unlimited number of chances- so I know you'll fall to my advances.**

 **Three, four, five, six, seven, eight.  
Oh, looks like death is your fate.  
The numbers rise, as does the rate.  
And this is when I call checkmate.**

 **A million draws, a billion losses.  
You showed me what true loss is.  
** **In the end, though? When all is said and done?  
** **I think we both know...**

 **I've already won.**


	79. Worlds-9

**So, I apparently forgot to mention that the song wasn't actually over when it stopped- he was just done with the fight, so the music faded out. That's on me, and I'll be updating it, but the lyrics mentioned would be around 1.5, as opposed to the full 3.5-4 minutes.**

* * *

 **Quest Complete**

 **Seven Less-deadly Sins**

 **The Underground has been home to some less than savory activities, including the capturing of a number of human souls. Their very presence here is harmful, and forces conspire to use them for even more insidious purposes. Whether to destroy or rule, they must be stopped.**

 **Defeat Fear, Hatred, Corruption, Frustration, Deceit, and Cowardice.**

 **Bonus Objective: Defeat Despair.**

 **Rewards: Title [The One Above], 9,380,000 XP, 'Akumu', 'Holestus', 'Norengen', 'Poleander, 'Elerose', 'Seether', 'Chara'.**

Draga's Aura flared the moment the notification came through, most of a rainbow of colors sifting through the red hue of his soul. They each took a small portion, overall, and looked more like decoration than the secondary souls that they were.

And they were just that- there could be no doubt. Only one of the seven was missing- Chara, the girl who'd died in the creation of the others. Her presence was different... More like Grim, really. A voice- a set of thoughts in his head that weren't his own- and she was surprisingly calm about it.

Gamer's Mind, perhaps? If someone was made a part of him- which was a bullshit fucking reward, by the way- it would make sense that his skills would affect them too.

At least the game saw fit to explain the rest of them through status effects.

 **Akumu (Max)**

 **The soul is much like the body within, constantly hungering for more.**

 **Allows for consumption of souls to gain Max MP and HP.**

 **Holestus (Max)**

 **The soul is a storm- ever changing and, at once, desiring to be complete.**

 **Unlocks the character editing system.**

 **Norengen (Max)**

 **The soul has a presence- both real and incorporeal- and it's begging to be free.**

 **Allows for masking or inflation of 'presence'.**

 **Poleander (Max)**

 **The soul is unique, just like all the others, and just as it consumes, it adapts.**

 **Allows for the copying of seen magical techniques.**

 **Elerose (Max)**

 **The soul is ever moving, shifting with the passage of time.**

 **Increases Dexterity by 100%.**

 **Seether (Max)**

 **The soul is chaotic mess, born from the most unstable of matter.**

 **Randomly distributes trained stat points.**

Oh boy... More random crap.

Not that he was really mad, of course. This was quite the haul, all told, especially with Determination added to the mix. Elerose, though, was the only one with an immediate and obvious gain. The rest were either basically skills, but related to the game and function of the soul, or were scaling effects which would take time to accomplish much.

Seether was actually the most useful- unless the scaling on the MP and HP from Akumu was pretty good, in which case Thresh's lantern might as well be an infinite wellspring- since it let him gain Intelligence, Dexterity, and Wisdom through training. If he worked out, got some Vitality, it could be reassigned to his Intelligence without increasing in difficulty. Sure, some points would still go to it, or to another of his lower stats, but there was no denying the sheer value that effect could eventually bring.

It wasn't quite time to train, though. He had a portal to go through, which summoned itself a few feet to his left, and one last thing to check.

 **The One Above**

 **A title granted to those who have conquered the soul itself, gaining control over it to the fullest extent possible by a mortal being. Someone with true mastery over the soul can survive the harshest of environments, shield themselves while within the dimensional gap, tap into unfathomable realities or powers, and access any number of astral abilities.**

 **Removes the cost toggled Aura related abilities.**

 **Allows the user to freely awaken the souls of others.**

 **Can manifest the Light of creation, through Keter, for the sake of existing skills.**

That... Was honestly pretty underwhelming, in comparison to everything else he'd gotten. It was almost sad, really, how weak that was. Awakening Aura's took 2000 MP, if he remembered correctly, and- excluding Aurora, which wasn't a toggled effect, all of his Aura skills combined had effectively no cost to begin with.

'Light', whatever it was, could be something incredibly useful- but it specified that it worked only for existing skills. He didn't have any that used it, at least, that he knew about. This wasn't like a skill, either, where he implicitly knew how it work once the knowledge was beamed into his head. Even if it did, creating universes, spacetime, dimensional gaps; pretty much everything the Primordials had done was utterly beyond his comprehension, and that didn't look to be changing any time soon.

All of that left him with only one thing to do before going to the next world.

Decide whether to eat the occupants of Thresh's lantern or not.

He had souls- thousands of them, if the description was to be believed- which would offer him permanent strength in the trials ahead. They didn't do anything for him, in their current state, and he didn't really need a mana battery if he could just get permanent MP out of it to begin with. The necromantic limitation would vanish, too, which was actually huge considering how useless zombies typically were.

But those were also souls of once living people- presumably, anyway. They could theoretically be animals or even bloody plants for all he could actually prove. Even with the new title, and his further augmented eyesight- a product of his massively increased Intelligence- he couldn't actually see anything but the incandescent glow within. A density problem, perhaps?

Because it was the most likely option, he was just going to assume they were people, so the question came up of whether it was moral to devour thousands of people. Rather, was it better then leaving them in an eternal jail, as it obviously wasn't to do it under ordinary circumstances.

And, to that end, did he care about the answer? He couldn't feel guilt- for long, anyway- even if he did decide it was wrong later on.

If he was emotionless, though... why hesitate at all? This was a free source of power, practically begging him to take it, and there was no practical purpose to declining. They were dead, having lost their bodies in an entirely different universe, and it wasn't like he could bring them back like Frisk. Their souls functioned differently, and it would take time in order to learn to stuff them back in- not to mention the cost of using Abyss to create new bodies for them, if that was even what the ability actually did.

It was a little selfish to admit, but reviving Frisk had largely been for the reward. It was also relatively cheap and time efficient- something he ironically didn't have enough of when it came to thousands of people.

Draga sighed, raising the lantern up before him. It was a prison- one from which there would be no escape, for the lantern itself was the only thing keeping its occupants tied to this world. They might pass on, or come back as ghosts, but it wouldn't be the kind of life anyone would wish for.

Better, then, to end it all.

His Aura, still largely dominated by the red of determination, softened into a moderate pink. Whatever loss in intimidation that may have caused was quickly overshadowed as it bulged out from his chest, forming the mouth of the very creature he'd destroyed but moments earlier.

Frisk- who he'd actually forgotten was there- was understandably afraid, but he paid her no mind. She didn't even know what was happening, since the souls within the lantern functioned so fundamentally different from the ones in this world. That was actually what saved him, since the game adapts, and the bonuses it granted would soon be fading.

All the more reason to stock up on MP now.

'Akumu' stretched out slowly, encroaching on the lantern while opening its jaws. It didn't bite down, as he'd expect it too- the lantern itself a worthwhile sacrifice- but instead manifested some sort of... Tongue-like structure from the back of its mouth, which shot forward and through the lantern.

It pulled back a second later, the glow visible only through his eyes yanked back with it. Akumu bit down, devouring the light within.

Whilst the Terror Of The Void retreated back into his stomach, Draga pulled his character page back up, and-

 _Holy shit._

Chara was equally surprised, though probably for different reasons. He'd gained 2,274,300 MP. It was a little less than a tenth of that for HP, thanks to the multipliers he had in place for raw MP amounts, but... Damn. That was absolutely ridiculous.

With his current MP regen, which was actually very low since he hadn't been putting quite as many points into his Wisdom, he gained back about 30% of his max MP every second. That was an entire Abyss cast, now.

The randomness was still something to look out for, which is why he was hesitating to cast it now, but that would be quite the advantage in a fight. Hopefully he'd get some time to train- eating up skill books all the while- in the next world, but he wasn't gonna waste time which could be used gaining levels right then.

One last glance around, to confirm he was only missing out on whatever gold the enemies had dropped, and he was through the portal.

* * *

Draga's first thought after passing through the portal was simple.

 _This feels rather high up..._

He didn't need to breath, nor was he affected by the cold of the upper atmosphere, but it was still a peculiar choice of drop point. Still better than face first into the ground, in his mind, but there had to be a lot of better options.

His second thought was rather boring.

 _I wonder if it is Tet who actually makes these?_

The idea had some merit, given that Tet was a trickster, but also really wanted him to succeed. What purpose would dropping him off in the stratosphere really serve, outside of giving him a cool skybox to screw around with for a few minutes?

It was his third thought that really demanded attention.

 _SWEET SHADE OF ERATICUS- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?_

Down below- meaning ground level and through a cloud layer- Draga caught sight of a mountain sized purple samurai warrior. It's admittedly well made looking armor and body seemed entirely composed of a monochrome flame, yet was simultaneously solid enough that a swing of its sword cleaved a mountain in two nearly a mile away from the actual blade.

Whatever it was, it was so inhumanly large that he couldn't even identify it properly enough for Observe to bring up a description, as if that would matter. It didn't really take a genius to recognize a giant magic mech suit when one was standing right in front of them.

 _Man, I want one of those._

And he might just get the opportunity, since it was clearly a magical technique of some sort and Poleander would let him copy anything that was-

It was vanishing, just like that. It made to swing it's blade down, towards some people he could only vaguely recognize as such from miles in the sky, and evaporated before it landed.

 _Huh..._

Something about that felt wrong on every level, but he was still trapped as an observer in the sky. Air rushed by him, bringing him slowly closer to the ground, but it would be minutes yet before he actually landed.

He really needed to get a flight ability somewhere.

On the ground, a glowing figure- the light around him similar to his excited Aura- shot forth a bunch of fireballs, which were handily dealt with. So too were his opponents attacks, which were either dodged or dispersed on contact with him.

He did something with his hands- unrecognizable from this distance- and slammed his palm into one of innumerable misshapen trees. The glow around him exploded outward in a burst of light. It obscured him for a moment, but faded a few seconds later, along with the fiery aura.

 _What was the point of that?_

There clearly was one, which lended credence to the idea that the aura wasn't Aura, but rather something else. An actual fire, perhaps? An attack that landed and was burning away at him? Granted, the man hadn't seemed bothered- though he was still way too far to read facial expressions- but that seemed to fit a lot better.

Draga sighed... He really needed to be watching this, and not being able to was incredibly problematic. Clairvoyance scaled with Intelligence, right?

He'd leveled up twelve times from the quest, and four times before it, leaving him with 80 points to drop.

Logic would ordinarily dictate that 30 goes to Int, bringing it up to 200, and the rest go to Wisdom. After all, you got skills at metrics of fifty, and doubling his Wisdom would double his MP regen.

Except he wouldn't get those skills. One of the consequences of the locking system is that he already had what the game would give him. Reaching 200 would yield nothing since even Abyss, which was by far the most useful 200 Int skill, he'd received a hundred points earlier. If he raised his Intelligence higher, though, he'd get another stack of Magic Mastery, giving him more MP and MP regen anyway, along with a number of brand new skills with any number of effects.

Most of his abilities scaled with Intelligence as well, making the stat more valuable in terms of damage and utility.

That last argument won him over, and his Intelligence suddenly found itself eighty points higher.

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, you have gained another stack of [Magic Mastery]**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Recall] has been created!**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Ikarus' Wax Wings] has been created!**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Elesh Norn] has been created!**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Vorinclex] has been created!**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Sheoldred] has been created!**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Urabrask] has been created!**

 **By raising your Intelligence to 250, the skill [Jin-Gitaxias] has been created!**

 _Okay... Gonna have to go over those later._

Most of them, anyway. He already knew what one of them was, there was one he could guess at pretty easily, and one he needed to look at immediately.

 **Ikarus' Wax Wings (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:100000**

 **Part of the human condition has been the dream to fly- to escape the confines of gravity and soar with the birds. The fact that we would eat those birds soon enough is often ignored, but the vision holds true, as it did for Ikarus- until he dreamed too far.**

 **Manifests a pair of wings behind the user, capable of manual flight using Int as a replacement for Dex.**

 **Wings are breakable, and are particularly vulnerable to piercing and burning damage.**

 **Can only be cast while standing on solid ground.**

 _Oh, no. Why not give me the ability to fly, right after I asked for it, and then make the damn thing uncastable. I can see how that would help me beat Tzeentch- really, I do._

Bitching aside- and he recognized that that was what it was- it would be a useful skill later. Just not now, which was infuriating.

 _Wait..._

He had Abyss- what the hell was wrong with him? He could literally get any skillbook he could possibly ask for, and them some. In fact, he actually had an ability in mind. A million mana later, and...

Wrong item. As interested as he was in manufacturing cool machines, a manual on the physics of electricity simply wasn't what he needed at the moment.

Fortunately, he had mana to spare, and simply tried again.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [Electrical Silhouette]!**

Obviously, he used it.

 **Electrical Silhouette (Passive and Active) LVL39 EXP: 18.06% MP:620, 620 per second**

 **It's good to be home.**

 **Passively reduces taken electrical damage by 50%.**

 **Passively sets base Dex to 138.**

 **Passively increases electrical affinity by 10.**

 **Passively improves electricity based damage by 120%**

 **Actively allows you to turn your form into lightning. The form is unstable and cannot hold anything. Auto-unequips all currently equipped gear for the duration.**

 **Disableable.**

 _It is good to be home, huh?_

The difference of just unlocking the skill was instant, nearly tripling his dexterity- and his perception speed as a consequence- but that wasn't why he'd reawakened the skill. That was more of a happy coincidence- though it was a shame he didn't unlock the bonus skills because of it.

No- it's pretty purpose was in traveling. Terminal velocity was so slow- a meager 122 miles an hour for the average human- while lightning was closer to 220,000,000. Add in time multiplication, and you're looking at a far more tolerable speed- far faster than he could run, even with all of his movement enhancements.

Extrasensory Perception kept him fully aware of his form as the matter that made _him_ was broken apart well beyond the atomic level and vanished from existence entirely. He was taken apart, turned entirely into energy, which manifested itself in a cyclical flow of electrons in the air.

The smell of ozone and burning remained, new to the experience. He'd long since gotten over the scents typical to Clairalience, but this was new. His lightning was transient, usually expending itself in less than a second, but the same was not true here. He existed for as long as he wanted in one place, continually breaking the bonds of any atoms he passed through.

He'd never have noticed before, since his senses were normally stripped away, leaving him exclusively with sight and pain. Funny how The Game left him with the latter- surely it wasn't a sadistic edge one of any number of gods had set on him.

Regardless, he was free to move as he wanted, and- in the minute or so he gave himself within the following second- he scanned the battlefield.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Madara, The Revived Destroyer**

 **[LVL112]**

 **Tsunade, The Fifth Hokage**

 **[LVL104]**

 **Gaara, The Fifth Kazekage**

 **[LVL98]**

 **Mei, The Fifth Mizukage**

 **[LVL113]**

 **A, the Fourth Raikage**

 **[LVL116]**

 **Onoki, The Third Tsuchikage**

What a completely unfair fight.

Not from the levels- he couldn't see Madara's to make a judgement on that- but just from the contemptuous ease at which Madara tracked his movements while only A was able to keep a good enough sense to locate his final stopping point.

Draga made a note to keep his Acceleration at 60x for now.

Annoyingly, Madara spoke at speeds roughly comparable to that, which made some sense given how fast he'd seen them all moving around the battlefield.

"You brought me a present?" he asked, keeping his face pointed towards the Kage while his clearly abnormal red eyes remained locked on him. "I admit, I wasn't expecting anything, but I have missed so many birthdays. I think I'll play with this one- just for you."

 _Oh good, he's taking the piss._ And hey, wasn't there a title about villain monologues too? It was poorly worded, making it more of a perk than a title, but he could vaguely remember getting one in the first timeline.

And on the subject of titles, he really needed a class. The one he'd gotten right before he died was amazing, as was the Berzerker class which he'd used to break the game originally. _Hm... Maybe that's why I'm_ not _getting them._

Regardless, Draga merely raised an eyebrow at Madara. Appearing weak would normally be good in this situation, because it would make Madara more sloppy, but he was also being playful about everything. If he seemed too weak, he would get bored and put him down.

Better to gauge his strength, get new skills and training, and come back to kill him later.

Fortunately- though there wasn't really any luck involved- the Kage didn't recognize him. Madara seemed to realize that from the way each of them regarded him with equal suspicion.

"Someone from outside the villages?" He grinned, turning to face him entirely as he let his arms- which were previous crossed before him- fall back to his sides. "You children have really been slacking off, haven't you? Perhaps I'll make an example before I go help Obito."

Another name he had no context for, just adding to the layers of confusion the whole thing brought in. Who was he even meant to be fighting, anyway? He couldn't Observe Madara to get a backstory or motivation on him, due to the level difference, and just being absurdly strong didn't make them evil. Tet was a perfect example- no matter how much he wanted to smack the God in the face about now.

Actually, that just made him a better example since Madara was being pretty rude about things.

Hm...

Until he had greater context, it would really depend on who could help him level up and train the most, and it was difficult to argue about who that was at this moment.

"Please, Madara- there's no need for that," Draga said with more confidence than he really felt. "I was recruited to your side sometime after your death."

Utter bullshit, on so many levels, but theoretically believable. He even had the perfect way to prove his loyalty right before him, and the considering look Madara sent his way seemed to be leaning in the same direction. "A test," he'd say, and point him down at the five of them.

"All the more reason to meet up with him, then. I seem to be missing a lot of information." Good- for Draga, obviously, not for him. "Very well. Deal with them, and I just might ask for your name."

 _Oh gee, I feel so honored,_ he thought. Unfortunately, sarcasm would probably earn him a mountain slicing sword to the face, so he said something slightly different. "Yes, my lord." With that, he turned to the Kage.

And promptly got a lightning infused fist implanted into his face.

* * *

 **I've actually spent a long time considering how Draga would react to the plot of Naruto- who he would side with, and all that- and I do actually believe he would side with Madara. His original goal with his wish to Tet was effectively the exact same as what Madara is promising, with the specific exception that it affects everyone- not that he would see any issue with that. Everyone enjoys themselves forever- winners all around.**

 **Madara doesn't know about Kaguya and the original creation of the Zetsu to battle the other members of her clan, and so only knows what he read on the tablet in the Uchiha hideout. By extension, Draga would be incapable of knowing the plan would go wrong since there would be no deceit in his words- simply false information, which is undetectable on its own.**

 **Of course, he doesn't have any of that context, so I had to dismiss that entire hour's worth of consideration to decide who he would side with without it.**

 **The answer was clear: the winner.**

 **His entire goal right now is to grow stronger, and opposing Madara- even if he wanted to- would be anti-useful for that. It would take time and energy, which could be used spamming Abyss and training his stats through Seether, and with a high probability if failure.**

 **And besides, I always loved anti-heroes.**


	80. Worlds-10

**For anyone interested, the full lyrics for Time And Time Again are going to be added to the authors note of Worlds-8. Figured that was easier than the current system. The song will come up one more time in the story- including the full lyrics this time- but that won't be for a while- probably another 10 chapters.**

 **As for the rewrite, I've actually decided to take this copy down in February- a month after the rewrite starts- so people are no longer exposed to the inferior version, but people who already started can still finish. Anyone reading this should be completely unaffected, but the warning is worthwhile.**

 **Now where was I?**

* * *

 _Ow._

He was getting unusually accustomed to taking some heavy beatings. Fortunately, he'd gained a lot of health since the last time, and that- combined with being _healed_ by lightning damage- made the initial blow hit like a wet noodle.

A stupidly fast wet noodle.

The Raikage's fist cratered his face, smashing a good half of the way through Draga's skull before the impact actually sent him flying. Fortunately for all involved, Gamer's Body took hold, keeping the gore exclusively _inside_ his head.

Draga shot backwards- far too fast to so much as spin in the air- as he smashed through massive boughs of monstrous artificial trees. Wood smashed around him, ironically dealing more damage than the original attack, and eventually brought him to a stop around a mile away.

How long that distance had once felt to his puny mortal legs.

Rolling his arm around in its socket, he popped it a few times, which was honestly quite relaxing despite the situation. His other arm and neck got the same treatment as he dusted himself off from the pulverized wood.

A(sshole) came in for another strike, easily outpacing his comrades as he charged forward at a significantly faster speed than lightning. "Lariat!" he shouted, though the sound obviously didn't have time to actually reach him before the attack did.

Draga rolled his eyes, clapping his hands together in preparation for a Lightning Release. It was one of his only charged techniques, requiring the passage of about a second for the ordinary version and having no practical limit on how much he could pour into it.

So obviously he spent ten seconds in Tachyon building it up as he casually strolled towards the now immobile Raikage.

The sudden shift in his expression, from a righteous anger to momentary surprise was glorious. Unfortunately for him, he'd made the mistake of charging straight at his opponent, which took him off the ground. Funny thing really- no matter how strong or fast you are, you have to be able to touch things to take action.

He literally couldn't dodge the burst of lightning, which managed to take up more mana than the ten seconds of Tachyon used to create it. The muscular man's body, cloaked in electricity as it was, took the strike rather well. That is to say, he didn't die. He was still catapulted back by the sheer energy present in the eruption, along with the unpleasant scent of roasted flesh which accompanied his already dark skin gaining a few more shades.

Tet, that looked painful, but also survivable, and the smoking form of the Raikage actually managed to catch himself on his feet when he landed some distance away.

Draga only smiled, triggering Tachyon once more- along with virtually everything else- and dashing in. As before, he had no defense against it, and had to rely on the electric barrier around him for protection.

Laughable.

One hand came to rest on the edge of the barrier, mana pouring forth. Not to create lightning, as normal, but to manipulate it. There was resistance- which he honestly hadn't been expecting, given that time was stopped and so A had no control over it, but brute force overcame that problem quickly enough.

Energy turned on its master, traveling inwards rather than pausing at his flesh. Thanks to Clairvoyance, Draga was a first hand witness to the man's internals struggling to defend against the assault in paused time.

Such a shame he had enough mana to go for another ten seconds, at the current rate.

Nerves fried, cooked by the energy passing through them even as they tried- and failed- to get his muscles to move.

Draga's hand came up once more, this time settling on his head, as he dumped what remained of his mana into one more attack. It was like before- with nerves burning away- except all the more gruesome for their nature.

At least it was painless, his death being 'instant' in his mind.

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

 **Your level has increased by one!**

Time resumed all too quickly, with his energy entirely spent. It would only be around four seconds for his mana to fully regenerate, but that was an excessively long time in battles with lightning+ speed combatants.

Handy that he'd gotten points to dump into his Wisdom, then, along with one quite powerful soul to absorb.

At most, a fifth of a second passed before he was attacked again. Fortunately, that was just enough time- with some heavy usage of Acceleration, of course- to devour A's soul.

It was worth quite a lot. All told, his mana multipliers gave him fifteen times value, twelve before he'd raised his intelligence, which made the average soul Thresh absorbed worth somewhere between one and three mana each. They were clearly holding out, considering the Raikage gave him a little over eight thousand, after the fifteen times multiplier.

Absorbing him also awakened an ability he hadn't used since... Ever, really, despite unlocking it back in Akilahara.

Chakra.

He didn't have any skills that used it, but he gained an intuitive understanding of how it functioned thanks to Mana Tapping, which recognized it as a secondary mana source. It would grow from use, making it objectively better than mana, and could be increased from both meditation and extreme training. If he actually had time to train right that second, he'd be doing just that, but instead he had an attack to deal with.

Specifically, the giant cube which had ensnared him.

Draga lazily glanced around him, noting the confident smile that appeared on Onoki's face. This was supposed to be lethal, then?

Either an explosion or crushing- probably the former, with the white sphere forming in the middle of the shape. It was a fast attack, all told, taking a perceived second with his sixty times speed from Acceleration.

He'd gained such a small amount of mana back- not even enough to teleport, given that he needed Acceleration in order to react- but his best skill was practically free.

There was a pop- like that of a balloon suddenly bursting, but too fast for the sound to properly be conveyed before the air it was traveling through was brought down to nothing. It was strangely silent, then, despite how he could see the energy bouncing around within the confines of Onoki's attack.

Particle Style, huh? Observe described it as the combination of Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Weak.

As the cube broke apart, allowing him to reform into flesh and blood, he came to rest atop another tree.

He'd need a little time first, to regenerate mana, but he had a little something to show them right back.

"How rude," Draga called out, getting the remaining four to freeze. Well, except for Onoki, who was busy floating slowly down to the ground as he massaged his back. Quite the vulnerability, that, particularly when he could see the damage to the individual vertebrae from here. Of course, such advantages were unimportant, in comparison to regaining his mana, so he continued. "Is this how the Kage should treat their superiors? With overblown violence?"

One of the many completely broken advantages of his powers were the removal of all signs of weakness, such as the half of his skull he'd be missing after the Raikage's first attack. As far as they knew, and could see, he was completely untouched. Hopefully he could play on that.

"I realize you may want to prove yourself- as I do to Madara- but I don't think being beaten around by me will endear yourself to my lord."

It was two pretty simple goals in one- get them talking, and particularly hesitating, and suck up to Madara. Even from the distance they'd gained from him- a little over a mile now, and with a change in elevation too- Draga could clearly see his abnormal eyes locked on him. Reading his lips, perhaps? There's no way he could hear anything, but it would be better to play it safe.

Besides, he didn't really lose anything by playing up his 'colleague' in a fight.

"We have no need to justify ourselves to you!" Tsunade challenged, taking the front position in the group. "We will stand against any evil, whether that be you, Madara, or anything even worse."

 _Heh. That last one isn't too far off, actually._

Unfortunately, they wouldn't be much help, and so they were to be dealt with. Madara still had the level advantage, not to mention those eyes which he could _see_ were powerful, even before Clairvoyance showed the 'magic' stored within it.

"I have my own goals, and they happen to align with Madara's quite nicely." If they didn't, he could just kill him too. If he ever let his guard down, it wouldn't even be hard thanks to Abyss. "Your willingness to throw your lives away is courageous, and actually appreciated-" he needed XP, after all, "- but you are doing just that. Your sacrifice will be in vain."

 _One more second._

"If I am to fall to you, then so be it, but that's not going to stop me from trying!"

Draga smiled.

Funny thing, really. No matter how tense the situation, he could meditate while sitting relatively still thanks to Gamer's Mind. That, combined with the ability to infuse chakra, and...

"I honor you, Kage," Draga said, raising one arm up and calling upon the elements. "Now bear witness to your end at the hands of "

It was at least slightly regrettable that they would never get to hear his self-proclaimed title, as he paused time before something as incredibly slow as sound could reach them. If they could read lips- which they should have bothered to learn, given how fast everything they'd been doing was- then they'd only have just 'heard' it before Tachyon took hold.

He was showboating for dramatic effect, which was fun, but also useful in this case. Madara wouldn't help train someone who was too weak to begin with. Granted, he probably was too weak at the moment for what he'd want, but the goal was simply to lie so convincingly that doubt was impossible. As far as lies went, his next attack was a pretty damn good one.

Elemental Mixing on steroids, with all five of his affinities locked into one- just as 'Chaos' had been from the old ability Chaos Storm, except so much more refined in nature. Additionally, thanks to having 210 total lightning affinity, the most powerful effect would be from the lightning.

Fire was the first element to take form, manifesting in a similar shape to that of an arrow. The embers flicking about in all directions died down as the flames grew more intense, becoming a solid and almost motionless region of heat.

Air was already present, fueling the flames even as it built an electron ladder for the energy he pulled from the air.

Lightning naturally followed, coursing back and forth through the flames and exponentially raising the temperature.

The whole process of raising temperatures was hardly stopped by the water that flowed into it. If anything, it increased when the electricity broke the atoms apart, forming hydrogen and oxygen gas which burned away almost instantly.

Dust, rock, and metal rose up to encapsulate his creation. Hundreds of thousands of degrees evaporated the materials, leaving behind only the rudimentary elements in their gaseous and plasmatic forms. By manipulating their temperature, in turn, he forced the carbon to solidify, forming a outer shell denser than any carbon based material had any right to be.

And inside the storm raged on, growing in strength while the very forces of nature conspired to keep it from flowing outward.

Draga took hold of the arrow shaft with one hand, pulling it back in a pitchers stance. Taking aim towards the ground in the middle of the group, his arm flew forward, the arrow zipping past at speeds he was still incapable of.

 **Through special action, the skill [Iniq Thun] has been created!**

 _Thanks, players' guide._

Time actually resumed before the arrow made contact, which was an unfortunate side effect of his low mana, the three seconds of stopped time it took to prepare the technique, and his inability to regen mana or use Acceleration while in Tachyon. Time didn't really help them, though, as it took a moment to recognize exactly what had happened. After all, to their eyes, it would look like he'd shifted locations slightly- suspicious, but not dangerous- and that a deep black arrow had appeared halfway between them.

Iniq Thun quickly made up for this discrepancy by hitting the tree they were standing on- all the while they didn't dodge out of the way. After all, it had already missed, and it didn't have any 'chakra' or obvious signs of elemental effects.

The arrow cracked on impact.

Within the grand scheme of things, it probably wasn't the most destructive of techniques. The arrow itself was strong, but he could probably break it with his fist, and at best the explosion had a ten foot radius, which was on par with some hand grenades, and it didn't even blow shrapnel out of it.

Probably because nothing survived far enough to become shrapnel.

An explosive burst of heat, shot out from within, like unleashing a sun that hated one area in particular. The shell that had previously been condensed into an arrow burst outward in dust, reforming itself as a sort of mesh barrier which entrapped the unfortunate victims inside.

Not that it really needed to hold up long- or could, considering what he'd seen Onoki pull off earlier. The pocket sized star ruptured, no longer contained within a miniature vessel, and consumed everything it touched.

In a literal flash, given how he couldn't have even blinked in that time, they were gone.

At his will, the technique collapsed back in on itself, forming the arrow once more. Then, pulling it back to him with his control over the earthen shell, and gripped it in one hand. He didn't have a target for it again, which was a shame, but there was something for him to try first.

Calling up his Inventory, Draga thrust it inside. Most of his techniques couldn't be stored- even if they took the form of weapons- but they were also non-physical. This was clearly different, being entirely material, even if magic was being used to keep its form.

Whatever misgivings he had for The Game, he was thankful that it worked, the arrow being absorbed and replaced by a simple icon in the corner of his fourth inventory slot. He really needed more stuff.

Interestingly- for his purposes, anyway, it displayed a '1' in the corner of the square it occupied, implying he could store far more than the thirty or so he was initially thinking. How useful would that be, given a day to just grind them out and create a few thousand? More? Most ammo in games stacked up to 999, which would leave him 33 stacks- since he had two slots occupied by Thresh's lantern and his sword, and a third by the infinite ball of yarn he still hadn't found a purpose for.

He wasn't really trying to figure it out, honestly. He was far too busy imagining the things he could accomplish with thirty thousand bottled stars.

Unfortunately, that would take time to create, and he had someone to deal with first. Either he'd get a fight, right off, or time to train either way, so there wasn't much to lose.

Though he distributed his points, obviously.

Fourteen levels for the four remaining kage- both fair and fitting. That also left him with seventy points to work with. As ever, the problem was how to distribute them. Dexterity was off the table now, because of Electrical Silhouette's passive effect which raised his base Dex on its own. Vitality was out because of how pointless it was, given how his mana supplemented his defenses and he already had so much HP from Thresh's lantern.

But the other four were all worthwhile options. Strength would normally have been off his radar, if not for a skill he'd genuinely forgotten about- Giant's Strength. It gave him a base strength equal to his level, stacked- presumably from when he got another rank of it- and actually did unlock skills unlike Electrical Silhouette.

The question was, did he want to waste it on something he could train in the future? All of his spells which were actually effective at this level had ridiculous costs, which made them less than spammable in frozen time, but strength had no such limitation. It would be useful on defense, too, since it would aid him in resisting opponents strength or in dodging- Dexterity may have been speed, but his muscles still needed to be physically capable of the exertion.

Draga sighed, decided to let the points drop into Intelligence as normal- though not all of them. With the sheer mana gained from the soul absorption, the extra mana from raising his Int really wasn't worth it- only the skills were.

Fifty points poorer, more skills flooded in, but he didn't even bother to read their names in the moment. He had five unread from the earlier batch, along with another eight- seven, since he already knew what one was- here, but those were to check for later.

"Impressive," a voice spoke from behind him. He already knew who it was- having seen him through Clairvoyance- but made a show of looking over his shoulder at Madara. "Glad to see that the new generation isn't all useless."

On that note, his level was still unrecognizable, and he'd gained twenty levels since he'd last checked. Something about the cracks across his skin, and armor- which didn't seem to be battle damage- implied he wasn't even at full power that far beyond him.

Definitely the better choice.

"Where to next, my lord?" There was nobody around them for miles- alive, anyway- and they seemed to just be in the middle of nowhere. If not for the wooden structure one of them- probably Madara, given that none of the rest seemed to manipulate _wood_ of all things- had summoned, they would be in the middle of a barren wasteland. Not exactly a place of interest for a God among men.

Then again, at the speeds they could move, there could literally be anything within convenient distances and still far outside his ability to see. Even with his stellar vision powers- which could actually see ridiculously far, now- the curvature of the planets he got on limited his vision regardless. Even if he could see a thousand miles away, he would likely never be able to see through _that much_ earth.

Perhaps he could get skills to bypass it, then? Extrasensory perception said it was augmented by additional sensory skills, as it had been by his admittedly weak ability to detect the presence of his various affinities.

Draga looked up to Madara, who still hadn't answered while he had an entire mental conversation. He seemed distracted, looking off into the distance, but Draga couldn't even begin to imagine what he was looking for. There wasn't anything in his vision radius besides grassland, the occasional tree, and the remains of the battle.

Perhaps he wasn't actually looking with his eyes, but merely glancing in the direction he was detecting something else? It was something Draga had grown out of, personally, but he also didn't normally talk in battle as much as the kage had been willing to. And hey, didn't the Raikage call out his attack, too?

Different world, different culture. Not like him shouting Lariat really put the technique at risk, since it couldn't be more obvious that he was attacking anyway.

"Milord?"

Madara's eyes swiveled around, landing on him, but the rest of his body was still. His gaze was piercing, and as the shape of his iris morphed, he couldn't help but feel like the world had gone still.

Had it? The wind was still present on his skin, and he could hear it whistling in his ears, it was just... No, it was right. The trees, the grass, everything was as he remembered... So why were his instincts flaring up?

Draga passed his attention over Madara- clearly the one at fault, if something was wrong- and was surprised by his absence. Or, rather, how wrong his presence was. His power- which he could sense thanks to the chakra he'd obtained earlier- was still there in full. His eyes recognize his image too, the intimidating form standing just slightly above him on the wooden bough and watching him carefully.

It was the insides that gave it away. The illusion- for it had to be- likely couldn't account for senses he didn't know about. The ability to see through matter probably wasn't common, especially to the degree he could do it, so it seemed a given that he would notice.

 **The effects of [Honto No Genjitsu] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

Reality snapped back into place, with Madara having moved from his original location. Despite that, Madara was still just staring at him, with a considering expression outside of his still hard gaze.

What was the purpose of that? Draga turned to ask, but he beat him to it.

"So you can escape my genjutsu. Interesting." It was a test, then? Madara smiled, though it was only the slight upward curve of his lips. "Your name, child?"

 _Another person calling out my age- I'm an adult, dammit!_ Obviously he didn't answer with that. "My name is Draga Konungur. Please, call me Draga."

"Very well, Draga." Madara glanced to where the Kage had been a moment prior, then back to him. "I suppose you could be of some use- but I have a slightly different task for you." _Interesting..._ "I assume you can make more of those." He wanted a bunch of Iniq Thun? That was doable, with time, so Draga nodded. "They would serve me well later. I'd give you about an hour before you need to arrive- bring as many as you can."

"And how will I locate you?" It wouldn't serve much purpose if he never arrived at the battlefield.

Madara nodded off in a direction. "Just head that way. If Obito did his job properly, it should be visible from space."

 _It... It should?_ He couldn't say for sure, but the Old Deus shouldn't have been visible from space, and they were about as large as the gigantic armor from earlier. Just what had he gotten himself into?

Draga had to resist the urge to swallow, before the nervousness was consumed by Gamer's Mind. He nodded, settling down and getting to work. Madara, in turn, was half of the way outside his vision range before he registered the man moving, which made him all the more grateful he'd chosen to work with him.

 _Number two..._


	81. Worlds-11

**My connection to the FF servers was really crap while writing up the Log portion of this chapter. Was there a server side issue I wasn't aware of? I had no problem with any other websites, and while I found a workaround, the problem didn't really seem to go away.**

 **If you know what's happening, please tell me. I'd rather this inconvenience dealt with than left to fester and eventually screw me over.**

* * *

His life had become hectic recently, and it was nice to get another moment to meditate. Of course, he wasn't just doing that, as his outstretched palms pulled together more bottled stars while his eyes scanned things down to the cellular level.

It was a work in progress, still, but his vision also let him see all the skill boxes he'd neglected while he worked.

 _Ah... Just a moment to myself._

 **"Curious of you to trust him like that."**

 _Of course..._ "Hello, Chara. I was wondering when you would actually interact with me."

 **"We have been together only an hour,"** she replied, tone as neutral as he felt. That was probably related. **"Still, it seems odd of you to side with someone who is so casual about murder. I'm not suggesting you fight him- since we both know how that would go- but you could have avoided him entirely. What's so important?"**

Access to his mind didn't transfer memories? Interesting, but not exactly useful in this case. Even if Chara wanted to, the weakness that had allowed Grim to take control wasn't present anymore. She was an observer at best.

 **"I can hear that, you know."**

 _Figures._

He really wanted to know how this was considered valuable enough for a optional objective quest reward, but he also knew nothing of Tet's or Tzeentch's plans. Perhaps there was a good reason they sought to put a little girl into his head. Or, he chose to believe that, at any rate. Given how 'helpful' Tet had been, it wouldn't surprise him if it was literally there for laughs.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on the reason behind it, she remained mostly quiet. Distractions would be problematic, and while it seemed she could hear his thoughts continuously, he was grateful that the same was not true in reverse.

At least the rest of the rewards were useful, even if he still wasn't in a position to use Seether quite yet. Meditating for the extra MP regen limited his movement, so why he could practice any number of skills, he couldn't actually physically train.

Speaking of skills, he had quite a few to read up on. At least the first five were fairly simple.

 **Elesh Norn (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The essence of the first Praetor- a being designed to reshape reality and others to its whim.**

 **Decreases damage received by 50%.**

 **Increases damage dealt to enemies within 100m by 100%.**

 **Vorinclex** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The essence of the second Praetor- a being designed to devour the power of great Titans.**

 **Increases MP regen by 100%.**

 **Decreases the MP regen of enemies within 100m by 50%.**

 **Sheoldred** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The essence of the third Praetor- a being designed to rot and decay all that it encounters.**

 **Reduces the duration of negative effects on you by 50%.**

 **Increases the duration of negative effects on enemies within 100m by 100%.**

 **Urabrask** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The essence of the third Praetor- a being designed to destroy, and bring others into its task.**

 **Increases damage dealt by you and allies within 100m by 100%.**

 **Jin-Gitaxias** **(Passive) LVLMAX MP:0**

 **The essence of the fifth Praetor- a being designed to decipher and drain all that lives.**

 **Unlocks the weaknesses feature of Observe.**

 **Steals 10% of damage dealt from the enemy's mana.**

Their simplicity was a welcome relief, in comparison to everything else he'd gotten. Simple combat buffs to him and or debuffs for his opponents, entirely passive, and which required no further thought put into them since they came already maxed out. The Observe buff was slightly unorthodox, but something which was pretty straightforward and easy to use.

The same could not be said for everything he'd gotten for raising his Intelligence to 250.

One skill was the obvious extra stack of Magic Mastery, which was summarily dismissed as he brought everything else out. Interestingly, two other skills were also dedicated purely to raw potential, though in different ways.

 **Sekali (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The power of will override reality, allowing for that which was impossible before to be accomplished despite all reason.**

 **Reduces the cost of all abilities by 50%.**

 **Duakali (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **The notion of impossible is broken whenever something is accomplished once, but the spirit can hardly be satisfied with a single try.**

 **Increases MP regen by 100%.**

Pretty useful overall, but not particularly complicated in application. The flavor text was interesting, and they were apparently able to level up- and potentially evolve at MAX- but they also weren't alone. One more even featured the naming convention, though had a very different effect. One that was, arguably, far more useful.

 **Tigakali (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Practice makes perfect is not an idiom- it's a fact, which only becomes more literal when the will rides behind it.**

 **Allows the tripling of all price based abilities in both effect and cost.**

For most of his abilities, it wouldn't actually accomplish much. He could already produce three Iniq Thun for triple the cost or multiply his Acceleration or Tachyon usage. His elemental abilities, too, were all exponential with the exception of Electrical Silhouette which probably wouldn't interact properly with this anyway.

Except those were his primary attacks. His buffs, though? Stampede, Aura, Lightning Aura, Electric Shell, all of Bai Hu's techniques, and all the rest? Holy hell, those things were almost free, so the price increase honestly didn't matter.

He could probably fight the Kage without spamming Tachyon now, all thanks to that.

And he still had four more to go.

 **The Chariot (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **Rockets function by spewing energy and mass out at ridiculous speeds, propelling the ship forward. Physics may be misunderstood, with regards to magic, but tests _have_ shown the same is true for arcane energy.**

 **Allows for omnidirectional movement scaling with mana expended, Intelligence, and skill level.**

Not particularly useful, given the other new skills and Electrical Silhouette, but he could theoretically find a use for it eventually. Perhaps it could be used in tandem with his other movement skills? A sort of rocket boost? Regardless, it was pretty unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

 **The Horse (Passive) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0**

 **Momentum is a bitch, isn't it?**

 **Dexterity increases over time as you continue to move, stopping when you do.**

 **Current max increase: 101%**

 _Heh. The Chariot did come before the Horse._ Jokes aside, this one was far more useful, if only conditionally so. It wasn't often that one could keep moving continuously in a fight, but there wasn't anything explicitly stating that vibrating wouldn't keep it up. It might not, which was an experiment for later, but it had the potential to keep that up permanently as well.

And now we got into the more... Absurd ability designs.

 **The Sun (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 10000000**

 **The Sun is not a complex idea, in itself. Enough mass gathers that gravity fuses atoms together, giving off heat and light while creating elements dense enough to keep the whole system running. Thing is, energy and mass are one and the same, so why not just gather enough of it?**

 **Passively increases Fire and Air Affinity by 1.**

 **Funnels energy into a single spot within reach.**

 **Effects vary based on elemental usage.**

 **Can be recast at the same location for stronger effects.**

Something he could technically already do, but as a trainable skill, with added affinity bonuses? It also implied that it was a mixture of the two elements, which made some sense, but also meant he had the elemental discount from his affinities.

Useful, for the passive if nothing else, and certainly something worth training. He was already using Iniq Thun to simulate the effects of a star, so becoming one himself in the literal sense would be pretty useful.

And then there was _that one..._

 **The God (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 1000000000, 1000000000 per second**

 **No form is truly corporeal; all are just constructs within the dreams of the ancient Primordials, within which willpower trumps reality itself. With enough power, reality itself will heed your command and nothing can stand in your way.**

 **Passively, Intelligence replaces Vitality for damage calculation.**

 **While active, location, damage, speed, and strength are only... Suggestions.**

Yeah... That was something. For the low, low price of a billion mana he could becoming utterly broken for a second. Er... Five hundred million, with Sekali.

Now if only he was remotely close to that level of mana.

It didn't imply and elements, so presumably that was out, and so he would literally have to raise his mana to that height before it would work. While it seemed like an evolution of the earlier abilities- Sekali, Duakali, and Tigakali- from the flavor text, it was likely just related in concept. The idea, however, left him more intrigued with training up the others.

He still had most of an hour to blow, or about two and a half days of training, to get through. That was, if he chose to actually stick with the plan Madara came up with...

Draga pulled up his character page, scanning his mana- and his regen- in particular.

 **MP:4378950**

That was quite the large number, just on its own, but the importance was how much he regenerated a. After losing Determination, it was initially gutted, but had since recuperated. If his math was accurate- which of course it was, he had Mathematicians answer after all- he regenerated 1318064, or a bit over a million, mana per second.

A million mana was a lot. Just that, on its own, was four thousand times Acceleration. Here, he had a little over five and a quarter thousand times.

Numbers like that were a lot easier to comprehend than the million on its own, but even that required some work to think over. Even just the slightly under an hour he had would be multiplied into over two hundred days of training. That was ignoring how he could train his chakra during that time, giving him exponentially more chakra to work with.

He could only imagine decades of physical training poured into Seether, but the 219 days he had to work with even without that was rather excessive, but...

Why not?

It was selfish to admit, but he really didn't want to dedicate years of his life to training like that, but if it would help save the multiverse... Wasn't he morally obligated to do everything he could? He'd already experienced something like this once, back on Remnant, but he'd stopped only a few 'seconds' into it. This wasn't breaking The Game, so it wouldn't really have any reason to stop him.

Just him for however long it took... How horrifically lonely and uninteresting, and yet he had to, didn't he?

Didn't he?

 **"What makes you think you'll be alone?"** Chara pondered within his head. **"I'm not leaving, even if I had wanted to. Might as well keep your boring ass company."**

 _Heh. So there was a reason you were here._

Gamer's Mind would probably keep him sane, despite the time it took, but it wouldn't be able to stop him from developing apathy in his personal prison of time. It wouldn't keep him entertained or thinking of those he was actually working for.

It mildly annoyed him that it was a stranger who took that role, but it did leave that little bit more to talk about.

Madara wouldn't know what hit him.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Nine.

As it turns out, I literally can't forget anything. Part of my Intelligence, no doubt, but it's proven annoying when dealing with someone for so long. Neither I nor she can discuss the same things again, which sucks in its own way, but that shouldn't be a problem for a while yet. It let's me create these journals, at least, since I won't forget my own thoughts...

The more noticable concern is that I will remember this entire experience. It's only been nine days, yet my mana has already increased by almost thirty thousand- outside the Intelligence increase- and actually appears to be accelera-

No, no more puns. We devolved into trading them for about an hour three days ago, and I will never underestimate the imagination of a child again. Or, rather, I won't stop fearing the damn things.

It's... Kind of a shame that she's gonna stay with me for however long we're gonna be here. A decade? More? How old is she- or I, for that matter, going to be by the time it's over? Is it gonna really matter, anyway? I don't age- or even if I did, I could just use Abyss to learn something to negate it. It would probably be useful- to get a host of healing techniques- but those were honestly pointless now.

I don't feel exhaustion, which is an odd part of this whole ordeal. I remember- if only vaguely- a stamina mechanic that should have paralyzed me by now. It's likely a part of my Aura, or something similar, but... Eh. If it's a problem, I'll find out later.

Edit: It is definitely a thing. At exactly eleven days, thirteen hours, twenty two minutes, and 17 seconds my body shut down. It only lasted a few seconds, but I gave myself a couple minutes to recover anyway. Something to be aware of, at least, but my Vitality increases should keep it at bay eventually.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Thirty Seven

I should probably stop running. In an effort to train all of my buffs through Tigakali, while also getting the stat increases from physical training, I'd started doing laps around a mountain.

Oh- I should probably mention that Dexterity couldn't be raised with Electrical Silhouette's passive on, so I disabled that too. While the 10 electrical affinity loss was unfortunate, it was totally worth raising my Dexterity permanently.

Anyway, I was running around the mountain, right, when Chara brought my attention to a trench I hadn't noticed before. I'd been watching the ground carefully as I ran- in an effort not to trip on something and accidentally carve a human sized whole through the rock- and hadn't seen it before. I wasn't trailing it behind, either, which I had found odd, but...

Well, it turns out I was just too fast. Shock waves ordinarily only move at the speed of sound, so they literally weren't visible at the speeds I was moving. It was only when I came back around a few hundred times later that it was visible.

Pushups are out for a similar reason, so... I'm gonna have to stick to training other things while I come up with something.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Thirty Nine

Nailed it. Stopping the Accelerated time just long enough to get an Abyss cast off, I got an ability to create platforms in the air. Not of the air- which I'd already come up with and had... Disastrous results from, when I accidentally fused the air molecules together and had to disperse a nuclear reaction- but instead of magic itself.

They still require some training to make 'em durable enough to take more than a single step, but they're good enough for my purposes.

It was Chara who came up with it, actually. For someone so young- she says she's thirteen, but I actually think she's twelve and just lying to seem more mature- her ideas remain as cynical as ever.

Crap, I forgot the important part. She didn't originally mean the platforms, as I'm using them. The idea I ran with was originally to use Langit Sanjata to build a gerbil wheel thing.

The concept held merit, however, leading to the unlocking of Astral Barrier. Sure, it was meant to block attacks, but my limbs have become my strongest physical weapons in every timeline thus far. Why not consider his footsteps attack at this stage?

Stat gain progress has started to slow as Vitality and Strength grew, but mostly for Strength. Some pile of cartilage didn't make Giant's Strength disableable like Electrical Silhouette, so unlocking it basically negated my ability to train it effectively.

On the plus side, I now have a Strength higher than my Intelligence. I mean... It's not like I dedicated almost all of my points into raising my Intelligence or anything. I see no problem with this whatsoever.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Forty Two

Something happened today which I don't quite get- I received an achievement. I'd gotten them before, like from killing one of the Hokori in a single punch, but this one was excessively lacking in explanation.

What was so special about spending forty two days in time dilation? Was it a reference of some kind?

The actual achievement was pretty useful, though, if annoying in the sense it would only increase his stay here. It decreased the cost of Acceleration, Tachyon, and any other time altering skills by 10%. Not too much, but when you're stacking things thousands of times over, it adds up fast.

In other news, I have officially reached six million mana. I'd have normally celebrated at five, which is objectively the cooler number, but I was already a large portion of the way there when we started.

We didn't really do anything to celebrate, since anything I ate or drank would have to be taken from someone- whether in natural form or not- so instead I just put on a fireworks display and called it quits. A shame, but what can you do?

* * *

Mental Log, Day Fifty Six

I knew it- she was twelve back then. She accidentally let it slip that she turned thirteen 'today', and I use airquotes since only about ten minutes have actually passed. Raising my Wisdom through training had some... Intense results.

As does meditating- which already doubles MP regen- while gathering Chakra. My mana hasn't quite doubled yet, but my regen has already quadrupled, and so the next ten minutes will take a _long_ time to pass.

Obviously, I didn't just call her out on it, and we actually went into town to enjoy some unfortunate mans cake. Or, rather, I enjoyed it and she enjoyed a few songs. I already knew she couldn't taste, feel, or smell anything I could- which is fortunate for her, honestly, given that Extrasensory Perception made me smell _everything-_ but the effort seemed to please her.

Speaking of which, she seemed to like the idea of me building her a body. Not like with Frisk, where I just got one from Abyss, but actually constructing one manually. We both agreed that wouldn't be happening for a while- probably not even on this planet- but one can hope.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Seventy Three

I took a break today- figured I needed it, even if my body didn't.

Chara and I played some games, stuff like chess or go, which didn't require hiding cards from the enemy. A shame, too, since I really could have gone for a game of poker about now- something requiring more interpersonal skills and manipulation- but I'll take what I can get.

She's frustratingly good. Despite being on par with Sora and Shiro, I had to settle for a draw most games, though I can thankfully blame that on her reading my thoughts.

We also had a nap, and I call it that because six hours in this time distorted world isn't really any time at all. Thankfully, I had Sleep Casting from the first timeline, so I didn't just skip past the battle I'm supposed to be preparing for.

Quick progress report, since I figure now is as good a time as any. My Strength exploded upwards, as Giant's Strength is actually a stacking skill, and so the 90 Strength gained from my level got me most of the way towards the next stack. Once he reached level one hundred, he dreaded to imagine what was supposed to happen, but perhaps they stopped being handed out at some point?

Perhaps there was a cap on stat totals?

I'm only a few points from four hundred now, which I find absurd even in concept, but I'll probably get _another_ stack from that too, so... Guess I'm a Spellsword now.

If only I actually got the class for that. Wouldn't it be cool?

* * *

Mental Log, Day One Hundred

Oh boy, another milestone. Training has officially slowed down, which actually surprised me a bit. After my Strength became unsustainable, I figured it would be only a matter of weeks before I was working days for a single stat. It's nearing that point, but I'm still at about two, which is pretty good with the randomness of Seether.

However, that being the case, I have transitioned towards focusing on my skills. I've gotten so freaking many of them since I started, but all the ones that really matter here are buffs. I'd actually forgotten about one from the original timeline which unlocked when my Vitality finally reached one hundred a few days ago.

It, uh... Combines his physical stats. Not the bases, fortunately, but that includes after _ALL_ of my buffs. I don't even feel like I need to go into how absurdly broken that is, given that my Strength has officially reached four hundred and ninety eight, but I think I'll do that anyway. Not like I haven't already done the math for this.

My strength is 498, increased by 100% from Wrath, increased by 330% from my Aura, increased by 990% from Tigakali enhanced active Aura, increased by 200% from my Flame Aura, which I've actually bothered to level up for this purpose alone, and increased further by things like White Tiger's Five Hundred Years. This is ignoring the six other skills I've gotten to increase my strength from, you know, _actually leveling my strength._

And then all of that is added to his Dexterity and Vitality.

Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good about this. I could probably stop here and just start creating those Iniq Thun that Madara wanted, but... Why quit now? Madara wanted my help taking someone down, and the Iniq Thun were for that purpose, but what if I just got to the point where they weren't needed to win?

* * *

Mental Log, Day Two Hundred Ninety Six

Extrasensory Perception evolved today. It was a sudden thing, and one I wasn't even aware was about to happen, but it did.

In an instant, the world around me seemed to just sharpen itself. Everything I could see just... Just made sense. It's hard to explain, since I'd already scanned the trees down to the fucking molecule by this point, but... It was like the information which surrounded me was just natural to know.

Like I didn't need to check in order to know what was happening all around me.

Evolving Extrasensory Perception actually unlocked two skills, instead of the usual one. The first was Lens Of Creation, which allowed me to see things both smaller and further away than any natural ability possibly could. It was cheating a bit, since I still had the perception advantages of the other, Eyes Of N'Thul.

That was where the sharpening effect had come from. Supposedly, N'Thul was a god blessed with unimaginable senses, capable of witnessing everything within his entire domain universe. Despite that, he didn't struggle, as the eyes themselves processed the importance of information and only fed that which was demanded by the brain- or whatever the godly equivelant is.

In combination, I could literally see the atomic formation of atoms on a whim, yet still be aware of everything else around me.

It also let me see through enough of the ground to recognize one of the combatants in Madara's fight- a hulking beast larger than most mountains and with a level that broke the game.

The Juubi.

He couldn't really tell what it was doing, or how anyone was acting around it, but it was clearly fighting somebody. If Observe was to be believed, the damn thing didn't even have any classical weakpoints, and was simply vulnerable to being sealed away.

Perhaps he should get a sealing skill before joining them?

* * *

Mental Log, Day Three Hundred Sixty Five

Has it really been a whole year in here?

Despite the fact that I remember everything, which is growing increasingly annoying as I map the stars through the evening sky, it doesn't actually feel like it's been that long.

Definitely longer.

Chara and I have since run out of things to discuss about one another, which has put a damper on both of our moods- as if Gamer's Mind wasn't enough already. I'd reconsidered the whole manufacturing her a body idea, but a problem comes up with that... Can I bring people into The Game?

The party system was great and all, but it didn't actually allow people to train their stats or gain skills like me. I don't even think my Acceleration _could_ affect her, meaning she would leave me in the dust the moment she was gone.

Dammit... If only it was Sora or Shiro here- they could play games with me while I train.

Actually, wait, wasn't Shiro a Gamer too? Wasn't that a plot twist sometime back, or was that a dream sequence? Man, now I can't even keep the plot running smoothly in my head despite a flawless memory.

I could always try to-

No. I'm not summoning them from their world into one of real violence to suit my own ends. Shiro might be fine, depending on how her character is built, but Sora 100% would not be.

I just have to grit through this myself.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Six Hundred Twenty Two

They say time flies when you're having fun...

People who say that are _LIARS_ and deserve to be gutted like fish.

Though, to be fair, it's probably just Gamer's Mind talking. Even mild enjoyment is ripped from me within seconds, leaving me cold and bored once more. If only boredom counted as an emotion, cause then this whole ordeal would at least be tolerable.

I wouldn't call it cabin fever, even though it has the exact same symptoms and cause, but only because half of those symptoms lasted only as long as the emotions behind the problem.

But look on the bright side- I have officially passed fifteen million mana. That's something, right?

* * *

Mental Log, Day Eight Hundred Eighty Four

Yay, I got something worthwhile again! Finally maxed out my Earth Affinity, which was... Nice, but also my Water Affinity. I hadn't even realized they just passively leveled without me doing anything in particular, but hey, I'm not gonna complain.

The doubling of my Vitality and Wisdom is nice, at least on paper, but it does mean my remaining time here more than doubled.

Yay...?

* * *

Mental Log, Day Two Thousand One Hundred Seventeen

I've taken to preparing the Iniq Thun as asked, and have reached about a thousand now. I think that's enough for now, since they are more powerful.

The skill itself is leveling pretty well too, having reached mid forties by the time I called it quits.

Perhaps I'm coming close to done?

* * *

Mental Log, Day Three Thousand Six Hundred Fifty

A decade.

A decade in this frozen reality I've come to inhabit. It's hard to imagine that time normally, with most people having memories which begin to fade within hours, yet I have a categorical unified knowledge of everything I've done.

Every one of the more than eighteen billion steps was cemented in his brain.

Though I've come to realize that it's logistically impossible to house my mind within the structure. I can track the movements of the neurons within my head as easily as the winds, and so have mapped my very thoughts, and it is impossible for the past decade to be stored within its electric halls.

Perhaps Gamer's Mind is more literal than I first thought? What if my mind truly is separate from the world I'm within, like the Warbeast technology, except with the universe itself?

If only it were something he could check.

* * *

Mental Log, Day Four Thousand

I think it's about time I stop... It's been over a week since I earned a stat point, and I've already maxed out all the skills I really care about. There's still 'four minutes' available, but I honestly don't think I'm gonna need it.

I'm as prepared as I'm ever gonna be.

At least, I think so.

 **Name: Draga Konungur**

 **Class: None**

 **Title: The Blessed**

 **Level: LVL90**

 **HP: 92450(485910)**

 **MP: 1539615(23405107** **)**

 **Str: 692(53560.8)**

 **Vit: 215(1849)**

 **Dex: 315(1258.782)**

 **Int: 341(1466.3)**

 **Wis: 287(2468.2)**

 **Luk: 259**

 **Points: 0**

 **Height: 6'7"**

 **Weight: 274**

* * *

 **Hey, if you want me to cover something that wasn't brought up that you feel should be, leave a review or message me. There are obviously a ton of skills which will probably go unmentioned, primarily from his ludicrous strength stat, and I don't feel like making you all suffer through what was eight thousand words of skill descriptions.**

 **We're off to the final battle before Worlds comes to a close and we enter the War arc, where we finally get to see what Tzeentch has been up to. Oh boy.**

 **See y'all then.**


	82. Worlds-12

As Draga finally let the veil of time fade, he took a moment to stretch. There was no soreness, nor any exhaustion, but the cracking of bones and stretching of newly expanded muscles felt just divine. People often said that pain reminded people that they were alive, but that wasn't really true- it reminded you that you were able to endure.

And he could endure a lot more now.

His size had actually changed to accommodate the new stats, though nothing drastic. A few inches and however many pounds didn't really matter when compared to his ridiculous speed and strength.

Speaking of, it was time to take it for a test drive. While he'd kept watch of the battlefield from a distance, he'd intentionally stayed out of detection range in order to avoid being discovered. While he could probably escape just about any fight he found himself in, it would take time away from his training, and it's not like he'd have any problems scoping everything out when he visited anyway.

Draga's form burned away, leaving only lightning behind an instant later, and promptly zipped on over to the battlefield.

The Juubi had been sealed a while ago, though he obviously hadn't seen exactly what had happened from a few miles away, but the battle was clearly still ongoing. Letting himself materialize atop a nearby mountain, Draga scanned the literal army of combatants.

Most of them varied between the thirties to seventies, with the occasional dip into the eighties and nineties. Despite the clear signs of exertion, most of them didn't really smell any worse than someone sweaty after a lot of exercise. A defensive mechanism, perhaps? It would help to avoid detection, and several of their titles did identify them as ninja.

They weren't particularly interesting or powerful, though, and so went ignored. Their strength would likely have paled in comparison to him a literal decade ago, so he turned his attention to those of actual note.

 **[ERROR]**

 **Juubito**

Not hard to guess that he was the one responsible for sealing the Juubi. Was this Obito, then? If he recalled correctly- and he did- Madara had mentioned someone like that before. Then, there was obviously Madara, who had gotten a neat makeover.

The red plate armor that had actually looked pretty damn cool was now missing, not really replaced by anything. The man had on pants, which looked damaged at that, and nothing else. He was clearly different though, missing one eye- with the other a purple orb with rings around the pupil which Observe called a Rinnegan- and with an additional face implanted into his chest.

Technically, it had been there under the armor the whole time, but was actually doing things now. Lines, similar to war paint, stretched across it with energy coursing through them. He couldn't identify it, but Mana Tapping was signalling in the back of his head that he should take it.

And he might in due time.

Juubito was battling two others- or had been, if their condition of critically wounded and lying in pools of their own blood was any indication.

 **[LVL136]**

 **Naruto, The Kyuubi Jinchuriki**

 **[LVL134]**

 **Sasuke, The Raven's Revenge**

Another set of names and titles without context, but he did get an idea of just how powerful they were. Rather, he got an idea of how powerful they weren't since neither held up to Madara before or after his transformation.

Knowing numbers- because of course he did- it didn't take much effort to figure out what Naruto's title meant. It helped that there was a seal on his chest, written in some kind of magic ink. It wasn't shown in the visible spectrum, but pretty explicit in most of the others. It was even radiating the tiniest amount of X-Rays which was... Interesting, to say the least, and probably would be bad for his health if not for obvious regenerative powers.

He actually got up on his own power, his skin knitting itself back together over time, while Sasuke had to be retrieved by three others and healed manually.

Still, he was working with Madara- if only temporarily- and so he kept most of his attention on him. The man had clearly changed, as had his title- becoming The Revived God- but even his lack of one eye or equipment didn't reduce how intimidating he appeared. One more reason to tolerate Gamer's Mind.

Madara nodded in his direction, a silent signal to do... Something. Who was his opponent, here? Obito was at least nominally on their side, if Madara's words were any indication, and the two of them should be able to just wipe the floor with the piddling army.

Perhaps that was the point- another test. Thing is, he didn't really have any interest in killing off the entire army for little to no reward. Killing the both of them would yield far more levels, which were the only real reason to participate.

If he could reach level 100, his Strength would explode upwards until it passed the point where Giant's Strength stopped applying. That would probably only carry him into the thousands, but that result alone would be pretty useful against anyone _but_ _Tzeentch_. Though, to be fair, no amount of physical or arcane might would actually matter to him.

The levels and skills were more a matter of convenience- gaining more flexibility in case he came up with something. He'd had years to think of solutions, and it had to be some kind of mental destruction of sorts, however that was going to work. He was invulnerable, but still alive, and therefore conscious.

But he'd had so long to think about this fight, and... There just wasn't any point in nuking the board.

Turns out, he wasn't expected to, as Madara blitzed Juubito instead.

 _Alright. I can work with this._

The initial rush proved fruitless as even relativistic kicks and punches were dodged by the only mildly surprised Obito. Perhaps the betrayal was expected? Didn't really matter to Draga, who just chuckled darkly to himself until Madara backed off just enough.

Tachyon took hold, allowing Draga to casually walk himself into range atop his magical platforms. His inventory pulled itself open beside him, the window displaying a 999 stack of Iniq Thun and a single one all by itself beside it. The stacking didn't really matter as he willed them all out.

What more closely resembled a wall than a set of arrows pulled itself from the Aether and begun to float under his will. After a moments thought, they launched in unison.

Juubito didn't so much as move while they approached, and Draga smiled.

Only to frown when they were blocked anyway.

A thousand miniature stars exploded against a black barrier, their containment shattering as he willed the full force of every last one out. The barrier didn't so much as crack under the pressure, and despite his manual direction of the energy to move around it, the barrier only seemed to grow until it encompassed Obito completely.

With a sigh, Draga directed the explosion skyward while keeping careful watch of how the barrier reacted.

The black material- now recognizable as those small balls that had flown slightly behind Juubito- was completely malleable. It reshaped itself, thinning or thickening on command as it produced more mass than the balls actually had. They were little balls of impossibility- as close to his understanding to dark matter as it could get- yet they seemed to do even more. The energy that permeated the air shuddered as they moved, little waves rippling outward in all directions.

It was only visible when they moved, hence why it had been so easy to dismiss them earlier, but now? Those things were an actual threat. Something that could not only move in frozen time, but adequately react and defend itself from his most powerful current technique.

Worse, since Madara and Obito clearly couldn't react or move right now, there wouldn't even be any evidence that he'd brought his strength to bear.

While had had time- because by Tet did he have a lot of time- Draga ran through his options. Even with twenty three million mana, and his newly absurd mana regen, it would still take a good minute to reproduce the attack which had clearly already failed.

That was out, for obvious reasons, but what else was he gonna do? He could try punching him here, but they would likely react to that too. Some kind of automatic defense.

Except... He could control them. He'd seen him pull them back from Naruto and Sasuke after their exchange, which meant that, while he was aware, they couldn't just do whatever they wanted.

Obito was only vulnerable _while_ he could move.

Of course...

Draga let the veil of time fall away, receiving looks of mild surprise from both Madara and Obito, which would hopefully last long enough for his purposes. He called upon everything- every speed, strength, or attack buff in his entire absurdly long arsenal, all tripled in effectiveness by Tigakali- and Lunged the about a dozen feet gap between him and his target.

Obito raised his arms before him, taking his initial kicks on them with little effort.

Using a rapidly summoned platform, Draga launched himself back at him, weapons pulling themselves from the void around him. A pair of punches were tossed aside, but that occupied Obito's arms, allowing Draga to reach back one hand and swing a Danish ax down atop him.

Once more, Obito simply blocked, but he put a little more effort into it. One of the black spheres shot up to form a shield, which found itself linked to his arm, and subsequently took the hit on its surface.

The ax shattered on impact, instantly freeing the hand while the other came in for another strike- this one carried by a chained mace. He blocked again, another barrier forming on his other arm, and thereby occupying two of the eight orbs.

Fortunately for him, two of the others were holding off Madara. They continuously reshaped, forming spikes, blades, bludgeons, and walls in an effort to keep him as far from Obito as possible. Not a bad deal, considering that only left four of the eight orbs for him to deal with.

Draga teleported behind his opponent, and though he reacted, he wasn't able to bring his arm shields to bear. Instead, two more of the spheres formed into a spiked set of mail on his back.

And then there were two.

Obito swung around, batting him back with one of his shields, before lunging in to land a few strikes of his own. Draga let his fists cave in his chest, ignoring the damage in favor of grabbing one of the two orbs in each hand.

His ring took hold, ripping him away and taking the orbs with him.

In that moment, Obito reacted- as he was expected to- and called them back.

Draga smiled, letting Acceleration run overdrive, and suck him dry. All eight had orders from Obito, and with time still passing almost imperceptibly slow, there shouldn't be anything left to stop him.

It was a gamble. If he was wrong about his earlier assumptions, and the barrier was called up to block him, his attack could fail completely and leave him vulnerable. It would only last a real world second or two, but that was a long while in a battle like this. Even if he hit, he could have some reflective powers or intangibility. Wouldn't that just be the icing on the cake, huh?

None of that happened. Draga's fist- if you could call it that when nuclear fusion was continuously consuming the reappearing matter into the void- made contact.

As did the rest of him, as he sailed forward entirely off momentum and cut a hole straight through the man's torso.

Obito didn't seem particularly bothered with it. One eye twitched, and he gave a grunt of pain, but he otherwise reacted with boredom. The man glanced down, willed his falling legs back up to him, and simply regenerated the missing portion of his body.

Because fuck Draga and everything that he tried to do.

There was one benefit to his casual reaction, though. It let Draga's unfettered speed bring him far, far away before he could counterattack.

His mana replenished itself quickly enough, allowing him to stop on the only one of sixty summoned platforms to survive the impact. He watched from a distance as Madara and he traded blows, pulling out more and more ridiculous techniques, but he'd clearly just demonstrated Obito's durability. That wasn't really going to result in a victory on Madara's end unless he pulled out something more powerful than that giant armor from before.

It didn't take a genius to infer that someone who had the power of a literal mountain sized god could fight that.

A different solution was needed.

He could think of three. One was rather simple, and boring because of it, yet no less effective. If he really wanted to, he could just rely on the game mechanics to kill Obito. Enough damage, regardless of conventional durability, would kill the man eventually.

The other two would be only an Abyss away- or a few, if he got some wrong items.

Breaking the seal would be the easiest, and potentially have some pretty spectacular rewards. If he could, say, extract the Juubi and kill him then his job would be far easier. On top of that, he could take the Juubi for himself, gaining whatever benefits it carried.

It would also give him less levels, since he would be killing Obito without the power of the Juubi within him. Naturally, he had to be weaker, if the unsealing process didn't kill him in the first place. He didn't know the specifics, but taking a mountain sized creature out of someone body had to have some consequences.

The third option was a little more action heavy, but cutting out his regen would let him kill Obito directly. The question was, what would he pull from Abyss to do that? Acid was the best thing he knew of, but the man was clearly beyond that if he could just casually regenerate half of his chest. Fiction- which had to be reality, since he lived in an omniverse- had a lot of those things, but he couldn't think of any off the top of his head.

Most of them came from the comic book medium, which was plagued with characters who can regenerate or ignore lots of damage, but he was a game player. Perhaps a poison of some kind? He could clearly get it _into_ him, so there wasn't really anything stopping him from using it.

That seemed like the best option, but he would need to avoid running out of mana again. Obito was aware of him now- would have to be an idiot not to, really- and would definitely punish him if he tried the same thing twice.

While had had a break, Draga scanned the battlefield. Naruto and Sasuke were being resuscitated, which may or may not be useful against Obito, but he mostly kept his eyes on Madara and Obito's clash.

Draga had minimal hand to hand combat experience. He knew where weak points were, such as nerve clusters or the pinchable veins, but had never really needed to use violence in that sense. Disboard didn't really allow it, and brute force usually won out on the other worlds without any real need for finesse. Most people, or monsters, died when cut in half.

There was one skill he'd gotten at the start of this timeline which actually held value here, though: Disciple Of All. He could watch them fight and copy their fighting styles. The same would hold true for anyone he came across, and while it might be limited to techniques he actually saw, he could always improvise.

Abyss came into use as he waited, trying to drag out 'God Killing Poison'. There were a few bad starts- and one of the items was actually just bee venom, which was... Interesting? It was an Omniverse, so there _had to be_ gods who died to bee stings, but it felt particularly random.

He did get what he wanted in the end- a vial of a... He hesitated to call the substance a liquid, since it only followed a select few of the standard properties, but it both sloshed around in the vial and didn't expand outward like a gas. Whatever 'it' was, Observe called it 'Nurgle's Brew, and... It was honestly easier just to read the description verbatim.

 **Nurgle's Brew**

 **A poison designed by the Chaos God Nurgle to consume and destroy all that it comes into contact with. It was created to take down an ancient god, corrupting it for Chaos' purposes, and has proven effective on everything its met.**

 **Applies the status effect [Endless Decay].**

 **Intensity varies based on vector of application.**

The actual poison didn't seem particularly complicated- douse him, whether by getting it inside him or just splattering him with it, and he wins. The thing that really caught his attention was in the very first line.

It was from a Chaos God.

Like Tzeentch.

 _Fuck._

While he still had time, Draga Lunged forward and swung the vial like a blade. The brew came out like a wave, being mostly blocked by the black orbs Obito relied on, but a little made it past. Obito didn't bother blocking that which was supposed to miss, which was fine by him.

Sungai brought it down on his head, which silenced any noises he'd have made from the experience pretty damn quickly.

He summarily ignored that, along with the rush of levels and sudden explosion of his physical strength, in favor of calling out with Abyss. A lot, actually- as many times as he could afford as fast as he could manage, in search of a specific book.

 **You have acquired the skillbook [Dimensional Door]!**

 **Would you like to use it?**

 **Y/N**

 _Yes, fine, whatever! Just let me get out of here!_

 **Dimensional Door (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:20000000**

 **Reality is fragile, with space itself tearing from natural and arcane means all the time. Doing it precisely takes a little more effort, but the dimensional barriers were designed to break from the beginning, and so long as you can survive the dimensional gap as you travel to another reality, there is little risk in doing so.**

 **A new gateway can breach to a previously known or random reality.**

 **Gateways collapse after twenty seconds or when used.**

Twenty million mana, just a second away. _Come on, come on._

Draga raised a hand up, ripping a hole in the walls between realities. He lunged for it, taking a step inside... Only for a tight grip to take hold of his shoulder, dragging him back out and tossing him forcefully into a nearby mountain.

 **"Ooh, I so love this game of hide and seek we play,"** a cacophonous voice rang out, the echoing madness silencing the ninja and bringing a still to their combat. **"I** **missed you, Draga. You never visit."**

The man in question groaned something incoherent back as he forced his way out of the stone he'd been flung through. As he reached the surface, he got a first hand view of Tzeentch in all his glory.

Bastard was just as ugly as he remembered.

More than fifty feet tall, the monolithic old one floated lazily along as he sat in the sky. Two tendrils- seemingly composed of a million faces trapped in an eternal state of pain and anguish- reached up from his shoulders and took in the world around him, all the while his red eyes remained locked on Draga. He had so many eyes- the forms of people, demons, and whatever else melding together to form the blue flesh he was made from.

The only thing that seemed truly his own- without any signs of other beings writhing in it- was his face. He smiled, animalistic jaw curling up in a malevolent smile.

Well... If he was gonna die, he might as well enjoy himself a little bit first. He'd had a decade to come up with quips, even if it wasn't the point of the exercise, and his more monstrous appearance here gave him a lot of materiel to work with."To be fair, who would intentionally go out in search of blue balls?"

 **"Always with the snark. No wonder I tolerate your species."** Tzeentch shrugged, laying his freakishly deformed hands in his lap. **"Then again, I won't have to do that for much longer, will I?"**

Draga rolled his eyes, not that it stopped him from seeing Tzeentch blink. It was honestly quite disturbing, considering how many different faces and eyes he had. "I have a feeling you will. After all, if you could just rid yourself of us, I don't think there would be much in the way of stopping you."

One of Tzeentch's fingers tapped as he considered how to answer that. **"You are perceptive, for someone with only two eyes. Yes, I cannot simply exterminate all life, but I never planned to. My schemes are always far more interesting than Khorne's, though I suppose you don't know who that is quite yet."** His smile grew wider. **"Ooh, that's an idea. I could always just introduce the two of you, and let him do the honors. I'm sure he'd enjoy the chance to kill someone who can get back up after."**

No words left Draga's mouth, but inside he was considering the merits of that. Perhaps if he could get him to do that, he could escape with Dimensional Door?

 **"Of course, if I did, you would simply escape with Dimensional Door."**

 _And he can read my thoughts._

 **"And I can read your thoughts,"** he agreed, shrugging as if to say 'what can you do?' **"Though, I may or may not want to just do it myself- be extra thorough in removing you, unlike everyone else."**

Taking away his afterlife? Eh... Not like he was really using it anyway. "And the reason you're stalling?'

The giant being chuckled darkly to itself, narrowing its eyes as it came to a stop. **"Entertainment purposes, mostly. You and I both know you can't touch me, and even if I were to somehow die, I could simply come back again. Here, on this godless world, I am the one and only king."** He sighed. **"Being all powerful is awfully boring, you know. Perhaps I should start to play with my new toys?"**

He obviously meant the worlds he'd gained access to in the time he'd been left alone. At least trillions of people, though likely far more, all at the mercy of a dark god.

"I'm afraid I must rebuke you, Tzeentch," Draga chided. "We humans are not mere toys, no matter how fragile or weak we may appear. It was actually a good friend of mine who needed to teach _me_ that, long ago. Funny thing about history, it has a habit of repeating itself..." He took a step forward. "-time and time again."

And with that, Draga fell into the portal he'd ripped open with his moving foot.


	83. Will-1

**I am running out of music to listen to while writing these things. Even I grow bored of songs after the six hundredth listen. Any reccomendations? I listen to everything except country music- with a few notable exceptions- and would prefer things with a fast paced tempo.**

 **Genuinely have nothing else to say. Talk to y'all in a few days.**

* * *

Tzeentch sighed, watching as Draga vanished once again. Truly, he was a brat among men. The end result mattered little, even if he did run off to his pissant deity, but that didn't make it any less annoying to have his prey escape once again.

At least he'd gotten a whole new universe to mess with. By now, his very presence would have cobbled a rudimentary Warp together, which would only grow over time from here. A simple reality break somewhere within, courtesy of Bill, and he'd have yet another place to gather power or regenerate from non-existence.

Man did being deleted suck, for the brief instance it actually lasted. An unfortunate consequence of neither he nor Bill being omniscient was how they'd randomly enter realities that had omnipotent beings who took less than kindly to him encroaching on their territory. How rude.

Still, he couldn't complain. A few thousand universes, a few septillion sentient organisms, and he was already the most powerful version of himself in existence.

The Old One turned his head- just rotating his neck the entire way around- to gaze down at the people behind him. They were fearful, as they should be, but also had a spark that shone within, a will to fight.

That wouldn't do.

One snap, and a wave rippled outwards at speeds many wouldn't even recognize. All it touched froze, frozen in place but left alive. It wasn't quite stasis, since they were still aware, and wasn't quite paralysis, since they didn't fall over or die. Said wave would travel across the world, ensnaring everyone there, yet protecting them at the same time. After all, he needed them alive and _thinking_ to gather warp energy.

Perhaps he'd free a few later, if he ever came back. It was unlikely, but hey, they could always win the universal lottery.

 **"Bill?"** he called, summoning the demonic triangle to his side. **"You have some explaining to do... But for now? Onto the next."**

* * *

Draga sighed, watching through the back of his head as the portal he'd gone through disappeared. For once, he only had himself to blame, having made the portal in the floor. Of course it would drop him at a poor angle- what else would it have done.

Fortunately, he'd gotten exactly where he wanted to go. Er... With a margin of error.

He was on the ground, at least, which was an improvement over how Sora and Shiro had arrived at the Dragon's Reach Plateau. Much like their original entrance into Disboard, Jibril had decided to get back at them with an impromptu skydiving trip.

It was a place he recognized, and that was all that mattered. He hadn't had time to explore all of Disboard, which should be a given seeing as he'd only been outside the underworld for a few years before his chess game with Tet, so it was some luck to land here. That might not be that far off, seeing as his Luck had gone up quite a bit recently.

Draga did a quick scan around him, to orient himself in relation to the world map, before zipping off into the distance.

He smiled at the familiar sights, along with the distant visage of the EEE, or Exceed's Exceptional Establishment as Sora had jokingly called it- unaware he was being recorded- after the name [] was rejected. The EEE was a floating castle, similar in scope and design to Avant Heim, which held temporary housing for the entire worlds dignitaries- Old Deus and Phantasma excluded, due to their sheer size. Artosh was the smallest of either that he'd seen- by a considerable margin- and even he was larger than most houses.

A once over of the building revealed that most of the normal occupants were missing, but the two people he was really looking for were in their bed chambers, so he didn't really mind. They were sleeping, of course, but he was more than willing to take their retribution if it meant waiting a few less hours.

Whatever the metaphysical equivelant of a smile is cross his face as he checked their health- finding nothing out of place. Shiro was in perfect condition- literally, and for good reason- while Sora was only malnourished as usual.

 **[LVL103]**

 **Shiro,**

 **[LVL65]**

 **Sora, The Skies Above**

 _Even now, she's a higher level than me._ Not by very much, thankfully. Juubito had given him eight levels, bringing him up to 98, so he was only five behind. Of course, he had no idea what she was actually doing to level up as a Gamer, or what specific number she was- probably the sixth, given that she was made one after him, right?

Questions for another day.

Electrical Silhouette had him at their bedroom door in a second, gently knocking on the elegant mahogany.

Their reply was just as unrepresentative of their position as he was expecting.

"Grah!" Sora shouted as he just woke up, despite it being well past noon. He stumbled- if you are willing to grant using an arm as a replacement for one of his legs and still call it standing- out of bed and vaguely towards the door. "Unless your name is Shubnigurath, you better have a damn good reason to wake us up!"

Us? Shiro was still crashed on the mattress, though he might not have noticed in his sleep addled state.

Draga didn't comment on that- or say anything, actually- instead just knocking again and waiting with a smile.

His patience was eventually rewarded, with one of the large double doors creaking open just enough for Sora to glare at him. "What do you want?" he barked, clearly not recognizing much of anything with _his_ eyes. "It's only 1:30..."

 _How this man ever conquered Disboard..._

Ignoring that, Draga posed dramatically, running a hand through his main of bright red hair- a stark contrast to Sora's own much darker shade. "What's wrong, Sora? Can't recognize an old friend?" To be fair, he did look quite a bit different, and the man hadn't yet had his requisite gallon and a half of sugar.

Oh, sure, he and Shiro both _called_ it coffee and breakfast respectively, but nobody mistook the sickeningly sweet contents of their mornings as anything other than a drug.

Perhaps he should make it easier, by using the character editor? Holestus gave him access to it, just as being a Girimasu had in one of the other timelines, so he could just undo the massive changes to his height and weight. Maybe put on some actual clothes.

 _Shit, aren't I wearing a mask, too?_

A momentary breeze lifted that off, gently tossing it into his Inventory, as he tried a different method of hinting it. After all, his current appearance was as much as part of him as his original. It wasn't a spawn of The Game, like his Grim disguise, but rather a natural result of his growth mentally and physically. If for no other reason, he would keep it.

Another hint, then...

"Whipped cream avalanche."

Sora's eyes clenched, the man so completely confused as he shifted his gaze around almost at random. That ended abruptly, the muscles of his face relaxing entirely as he turned back to him. "Draga?" he asked, unsure of the answer. Granted, there were two others there- Kirase, and his assistant Kama- but come on, both of them had pitch black skin and yellow slitted eyes! Just try confusing them.

Like all emotions, his annoyance was stripped away soon enough, and Draga merely greeted him in turn. "What's up, Sora?"

His hands came up to rub at his eyes, bringing out some life in his face, before he replied. "Not too terribly much, actually. Nobody chose to take Tets place after the game, so the pledges still stand, leaving us all trapped in an endless string of political meetings. It's worse for us, as Imanity, since many of the Demonia, Flugel, and Dragonia still have conflicts with our equal reign."

"Racism lives on, huh? Think a demonstration of my magic abilities would help?" Draga pondered aloud. "The big justification for it before I left was that we had no magical talent whatsoever, but I could probably take on a Phantasma now." Sure, only the ones about the size of a mountain, but come on! Some of those damn things were the size of the planet, or slightly bigger, and had both shapeshifting and almost infinite magical potential.

Sora didn't answer right away, instead beckoning him into the room and closing the door behind them. He made his way to a set of armchairs and invited Draga to sit as well.

"I was told you had bigger problems," Sora said, as Draga settled into the felt cushions of _his_ chair. "Tet mentioned something about a... god you had to fight? Some kind of malevolent deity in another dimension. He wasn't too specific, but I figured that would be a priority for you."

Draga stilled, judging Sora's expression thoroughly. He didn't seem particularly interested, which about matched his own enthusiasm over it, but he also had mild surprise lingering on his brow. "I don't see why it should be my priority," Draga finally said, leaning back in the chair. "It was basically proven to me that my power can't do anything. With all my skills working in tandem, and my new level, my strength had to be in the tens of millions. He didn't put in the slightest effort to throw me through a mountain."

"Add onto that his immortal trans-dimensional nature, and I can't imagine killing him as an option either. If removing him and beating him into submission weren't available, and he hasn't been convinced to stop by _anyone_ he's encountered, I don't really think it's possible." Draga sighed, running a hand over his face. "What reason do I have to keep working those angles? I might as well just stay here, brainstorming with you guys, until we eventually find something we _can_ do."

He didn't get an answer right away, with Sora nodding slowly to himself while deep in thought. At least he wasn't dismissing the idea, like Tet had. And really, what was that about? If nothing else, Tzeentch clearly knew about his survival anyway, which broke down his point about changing The Game.

 _Actually_...

"Where is Tet now, Sora?"

"Right behind you," he said flatly, to which Draga could only sigh.

Of course he was listening in, and just had to appear the moment he said that. What else was he gonna be doing?

With a baleful eye, Draga turned towards the strongest being he'd ever encountered, and promptly spat, " _hello,_ " with as much venom as he could muster. Somehow, that still didn't manage to break through his thick skull, and Tet merely smiled in greeting.

"Welcome back, Draga. Good to see you in such a good mood."

 _He's doing it on purpose._

A pause.

 _No shit he's doing it on purpose- he's been like that for years._

His frustration and anger promptly vanished, leaving Draga twisted back in his chair rather uncomfortably and without reason. Rolling his eyes at the literal emotional manipulation Tet was technically responsible for, and profiting from, he turned back around and found a particularly even patch of wallpaper to stare at instead.

Literally watching paint dry would be more interesting than having an argument with no emotion or hope of victory behind it.

"Aw, did I leave you speechless?" Tet prodded further. "I often have that effect on people." Tet wandered over to another chair- Shiro's, if he remembered correctly, though she never actually used it. According to her, Sora or Jibril's laps were so much more comfortable. "I believe you had some... Choice words for me?"

"No," Draga stated with zero emotion. "I have a complete lack of ideas and an uncooperative God."

Tet held a hand against his chest, falling back into his chair dramatically. "Oh, Draga! You wound me so!" Draga could only snort in response, which brought a smile to Tet's face. "So you're done leveling? Done trying to gain power and save everyone?"

"I'll still be doing that last part- even now, I have most of my abilities active- but the question is how I'll save them." Draga sat up straight, allowing his hands to settle on the arm rests. "Might as well stay here until I do, since you can stop him from getting at me until we're done."

Whatever he'd expected Tet's reaction to be, it wasn't the shrug and almost-sad smile he'd received. Was that resignation? A sign that he understood how the argument would go? It could just as easily be manipulation itself, but he had to know that he couldn't exactly pull _his_ heartstrings.

Silence reigned for some time after that, with neither him or Tet willing to say anything. What was there to say?

It didn't last forever, with Shiro groggily searched the bed for the now faded warmth of her brother. That, unfortunately, took her out of the sheets entirely and had her collapsing onto the carpeted floor in a heap.

She took it in stride, simply resting there for a moment and allowing wakefulness to actually arrive before moving again. When it did, she got up, taking her spot on Sora's chair with the quietest of growls possible.

And then she promptly went back to sleep.

The whole thing was watched by all of them, Draga trying his best to maintain a straight face, but that failed at the end when her head rolled to one side, already unconscious between seconds. Laughter- genuine laughter- acted as a reminder of just why he put up with the eccentric siblings. Never a dull moment.

"With the mood thoroughly lightened," Draga began, once he got a hold of himself, "How would you two feel about playing a game? Poker, for ol' times sake?"

Their easy grins were answer enough.

* * *

 **"Oh, hey there handsome. How've you been?"**

 **"Same as always, me. Tormenting the living and the dead- the usual."**

Tzeentch grinned, his plans innately known by his duplicate. It only took thirteen thousand universes to find one where he existed. There was that totally bizarre universe where only Slaanesh existed, but he would carefully avoid ever speaking of it again. The things he... She... They did were enough to give _him_ nightmares.

Shoving that to the deep recesses of his vast consciousness, Tzeentch reached out to touch his alter ego. On contact, their minds linked, merging their powers and sharing all of their memories, even if it would take time to sort through them. It was a perfect symbiosis, as mortals might confuse it to be

The other Tzeentch spared a quick glance around the immaterium, which was just as much of a confusing maelstrom as ever, before nodding. **"Bill number two,"** he began, gesturing to where the demon had duplicated himself. **"What was that kids motto?"**

 **"Onwards and forwards?"**

 **"Right..."** Tzeentch #2 smiled up to his ears. **"Onwards and forwards..."**

* * *

"You have to be cheating, man. You've only failed to call my bluff once in twenty games."

Draga rolled his eyes. Sure, he was tempted to cheat with Clairvoyance, but that would take the fun out of it. Even if only occurring in brief snippets, he was enjoying himself here. His success was actually something far simpler- his high Intelligence score and a previous unused skill: Card Game Mastery. He'd had it from the very beginning, and it was _strong_ in this context, but he'd just not played a card game.

There was that Remnant game back on the same world, but it counted as a board game only. A shame, since the extra Intelligence might have been enough to actually let him win the utterly broken game. What was the point of even having the Grimm race? It could disrupt everybody, but was basically incapable of winning since it couldn't pick off opponents. It _had_ _to_ attack everyone.

Or nobody, which was also an option, but that only let your opponents develop their own boards.

"Mind at least telling me how you're cheating, so I can use it myself?" Ah, Sora, ever the selfless guy. "Some kind of mirror? Marking each card?" He paused, mulling it over in his head for a moment. "It's something magic, isn't it?" Changing or viewing the cards?"

Draga waved away the idea. "While I could definitely view your cards, if I wanted, I don't have any illusion abilities at the moment. Can't make mirrors or mark the cards, either. Just playing it straight- not like you really lose anything."

Sora gave him a flat expression, reading him carefully over several seconds, before slumping back with a huff. "Nothing to you, perhaps, but I really enjoy those donuts. Steph only makes them once or twice a month now."

Giving him a shit eating grin, Draga reached one hand into Abyss and pulled one out. He made a show of eating it slowly, making noises of ecstasy the entire way, all while maintaining eye contact.

"I _really_ hate you, you know that?"

Draga continued to just smile at him, even with Gamer's Mind sapping the emotions away. "I love you too~"

The level of frustration, giving way to fond compliance, just felt right. "So, we've been at it for an hour. I actually do have a political meeting soon, so... Any idea what you're gonna do?" Draga grimaced, turning away, but Sora was quick to correct himself. "In general, I mean! Not about the god thing- I get that there isn't much you can do there."

His face became neutral at that, genuinely having to consider it. He could always keep training- outside of Acceleration, and probably with someone else- and there was the plan of getting Chara her new body.

Outside that... He didn't know. The pledges still governed this world, which would make the conflicts more interesting than 'he glances at it and it dies' or 'it glances at him and he dies', but he didn't really want for anything. Gamer's Mind, combined with his lack of need for sleep, food, drink, or anything else kind of... Ruined the point of living.

He couldn't impose on Sora and Shiro, and just make them play games with him forever, either.

 _Dammit Tet- this is exactly why I chose not to become a God in the first place._

If he got rid of Gamer's Mind, everything would be fine, but... What if he needed the defense if offered again? He wouldn't need it in this reality- probably, anyway- but losing it would...

 _Change The Game, idiot_.

"Tet!" Draga shouted at the empty air above him. In truth, he didn't know if the deity was actually there, but he would hear his name regardless of where he was. One of the things he'd chosen as God.

Sure enough, an instant later, Tet cobbled a form together above him. It floated there, shockingly human in the structure of its body, except clearly magical beyond even his abilities. He had on a new shirt- which was actually surprising, for the second it took him to read what it said.

'I Heart Imanity'

It was Sora's shirt- or at least a copy of the one he'd used in the very beginning of his conquest.

"Yes, Draga?"

The Fifth Gamer took a breath, turning up towards the one behind his entire life. His arrival on Disboard, his climb through Sora and Shiro, and the game that followed. He had a single request- a simple one- that should be trivial to fulfill.

"Allow me to feel emotions again."

Tet's pleasant expression faded, replaced instead by a blank stare. Eventually, he sighed, looking off to one side.

"No."


	84. Will-2

**My thanks to the two of you with song recommendations- particularly [Redacted] for telling me about "No Game No Life -My Master My Lord - Jibril Song". Been listening to it on loop for hours while writing this, and even just on its own.**

 **I can't link to it, but I highly encourage anyone reading this to check it out. The song won't feature in the story itself- which is a shame, but... Well, Jibril is technically dead in canon, so there it would take a lot of senseless maneuvering to bring her in for a boss- not to mention how quickly Draga would curb stomp her at this point.**

 **I've actually started work on the conclusion of this arc, since I work better with a ending in mind, which will be in Will-8, though Will is gonna continue to 12 which will be the final chapter of the story. 40 days, 11 chapters (counting today). Alright- let's do this.**

 **Without further ado, Will-2**

* * *

"No...?"

Draga clicked his tongue a few times, biting down on his lip. His eyes, visibly glowing from the subconscious release of fire within them, leveled a glare on Tet, who reacted with his usual indifference. That only made the red flames turn a bright orange.

"What do you mean... No?"

Tet raised one eyebrow. "You know exactly what I mean, Draga."

"I don't think I do, Tet," Draga seethed. "Why don't you spell it out nice and clear for me?"

The god nodded. "It's quite simple really- I won't be doing that."

An inhale, perfectly level and even- only remarkable because he had no need to breathe- was followed by a terse huff. "And your reasons, Tet? There is no doubt in my mind you have some great purpose for denying me one of the most basic of mental functions. Something humanity has had since the time of its creation."

Tet didn't deign to answer.

"I hate you."

"Do you now?" Tet pondered aloud, sounding almost amused by the thought. "I thought you couldn't feel emotion."

Draga's left eye twitched- the familiar tell doing little to truly convey how he felt for the following two and a half seconds. "I see now... How to be done with all of this." A bitter laugh escaped Draga as he leaned back in his chair. "It's quite simple really," Draga spat out in a mirror of Tet's earlier use of the phrase, "... I just need to take your throne."

That got Tet's attention, even if it only made him smirk. "Is that so? Little ol' you is gonna take it from me? I don't feel like it needs to be said that you can't beat me in a fight, Draga, even if the pledges somehow allowed you to get away with it. You want the very power you would need to acquire it, and information or tools only I have. Tell me, how could you possibly win?"

"Last I checked, the sixteen races were all still there." Draga looked towards Sora, getting a nod to confirm. "I only need a repeat performance of last time. A game, just between the two of us."

"Oh? You think they rest of Exceed would just let you use the race pieces for your own ends?" Tet's smirk grew, a rune appearing at his feet and sweeping upwards- warping him somewhere else, but not quite fast enough to stop him from getting the last word in. "That would be a mite more complicated than you think; isn't that right, Sora?"

Tet was gone before he had a chance to elaborate, but from that last part, it didn't take several hundred Intelligence to realize Sora would know what he meant. Draga turned to him expectantly, his friend caving instantly.

"It was something we learned after you were warped away..." Sora took a moment to collect himself and his thoughts- though, from his heartbeat, the man was still uncomfortable with whatever it was. "I guessed a long time ago that the race pieces held more significance than just chess pieces- or even the species subjugating weapons people understood them to be. The pieces you lost in that game with him- there was an actual impact on the races behind them."

An impact? Why would he have ever designed it like that? Either that was deliberate- which would require Tet to be genuinely malevolent, which was _still_ hard to believe despite everything he'd seen from him- or there was something else at work. Another god, perhaps? Some unconscious flex of his power? Despite his innate abilities, Tet was fallible.

"They didn't die-" he was quick to add, "but there was broad bouts of sudden exhaustion, weakness, nausea, and some of the lesser races just collapsed. While indirect, that did cause some injuries. The Old Deus, Phantasma, and Elementals reported only minor drops in power, but the rest..."

Wait... Why would it affect them differently? Surely Tet would be just as able to afflict the old gods with whatever he wanted- he was capable of anything.

As ever, the only one who could answer the multitude of questions he had was Tet, and the bastard was probably already back on that giant cube in the sky. While he would probably come down if he called for him, he had effectively told him exactly what he had to do for answers.

And it would require taking the race pieces back from _every race_ and risking their health in the process.

 _I really wish I had another god to damn you, Tet..._

Tzeentch would probably leap at the opportunity, but he was excluded for obvious reasons. All the other gods he knew wouldn't be on the same level- if they even counted. Like... Was Malkuth a god? He was functionally immortal, lived on another plain of reality, and could reshape physics to a degree. That was enough to count, right?

 _Not important._

"I still plan to confront Tet..." Draga said, somewhat hesitantly. "Can I rely upon your aid, Sora?"

Clairvoyance turned off as he waited, allowing Sora the privacy of his thoughts. As much as he feared the answer, he owed him that much.

Eventually, Sora sighed. "I won't help you collect the other pieces, but if..." His breath caught, the man clearly struggling to say the next part. "But if you do, I will give you ours. I want to know what's going on as much as you, and while humanity would seem to be the most at risk from the piece being taken, we are the king." He gave Draga a serious look, his expression completely rigid and eyes hard as steel. "You _will_ win. No draws, no stalemates, and no defeats- is that clear?"

"Crystal," Draga replied, giving him a weak smile. "Thank you, Sora. I'll get back to you."

An instant later, all that remained of him was the faint smell of ozone in the air.

* * *

Conquering the races of Disboard again, huh?

Crap...

There were a few he could get fairly quickly, assuming they were willing to play with him _and_ he had something of equal value to offer. Kirase and the Demonia would be the easiest- outside humanity- due to the simple fact that he'd been raised in their culture from... Not quite birth, since Tet mentioned a few times that he wasn't native to Disboard, but certainly from a young child. He knew what they wanted, how they acted and- while certainly manipulative- how to goad Kirase into playing a game with him.

Elemental trial by combat wouldn't be too hard either. He already had the elemental abilities of five, combined with all of his other skills, and would win that too.

Elves may or may not fall for the same trick, if he went to them early enough. The big problem with them was the offering- they were almost as defensive with their resources as the Seiren, and would certainly be far harder to play a game with now that the Cleftinai family had come to power. It was too late in the timeline to affect their first quest, since Sora had already won the race piece, but it had to change things here.

Finally, the Ex-Machina would fall in line if he got the cooperation of Horou, their creator God, which could be as simple as giving him a copy of S.P.I.R.I.T. from his visit to Akilahara.

Five of the sixteen- counting Imanity- that he could reasonably get without extraordinarily complicated plans. Great.

 _Let's get this show on the road._

He was already near Elven Gard, having recognized it as the biggest target of the five. If his talents with magic got out, getting them into a game would be nigh impossible.

That's why he wasn't actually in it, and he didn't speed through either. Despite the city's impressive size, it wouldn't actually take that long to get where he wanted to be- it simply required paying one of the other Elves to bring him to the main-families' front door. With a flex of his power, gold flowed into his hand and took the form of a lotus flower.

Elven currency wasn't actually gold, which prevented him from just copying their coins, but they did still have the very human- or Dwarven- concept of gold being more precious than other metals. Of course, Elves being Elves, they tried to justify their avarice with its magic conductivity even though nickel was actually better and more common.

Long story short, he had something to trade for a teleport that wouldn't be at all suspicious to them- all he had to do was walk into Elven Gard like he wasn't a destructive psuedo-deity demanding a tool that can subjugate their species.

Man, context was an incredible mood killer.

He didn't have that intent, but the game he played with Tet would be bad for them. It simply wasn't possible to win a game of chess without sacrificing a few pieces- even in the magic chess Sora played for the throne of Elkia- so they were likely to suffer. The only pieces with good chances to survive would be the Imanity- the king- and the two knights, which represent the Dhampir and Seiren. The weakest races, basically, which actually worked out pretty nicely.

Now, if he won, he could always just reverse the damage done. Omnipotence was pretty spectacular, and would certainly be capable of some basic healing techniques- even on that grand a scale- but that didn't make the consequences cease to exist. The game would take time, and that was assuming he won.

And he thought emotionless freed him from morality... _Dammit..._

Fortunately, that would only come into play later. He could think of the moral quandary, and potential backdoor solutions like threatening Tet, when he was done collecting the pieces.

Onto the Elves, then.

At least, that was the plan until he ran headlong into one of their classic invisible walls. It was just on the border of the city, and even with Clairvoyance back on, he couldn't actually see the barrier. He _could_ see the runes keeping it in place, though, which were on the set on hexagonal prisms buried in the dirt. They were inside the barrier- like someone with a brain would design it- and he couldn't just skip past.

Okay, not technically true. He could most certainly smash it, or bypass it with his ring of teleportation, but either option would give away the fact that he could use magic. Even though the Dwarfs could make enchanted items, including things capable of short range teleportation, they still needed to be powered by the spirits in the wielder.

Humans weren't supposed to have those to any capacity, or even the ability to detect them.

Looks like he was stuck out here, until one of the people who made the barrier came to investigate his smacking into it. Even just casually walking, with a base strength of ten thousand, that had to be a stronger impact than any animal would output.

 **"And how would a human do it, then?"**

 _Shit, Chara's right._

He had time, fortunately, and both a forest and Abyss to work with. A battering ram? He could cobble the parts together from a fallen tree and some scrap metal quickly enough...

 _Wait a second._

 **Fantasy (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

It was a criminally underused ability, for what it did. The ability to conjure an hologram- complete with enough physical form to be touched, if not exactly attacked- was exceptionally applicable. Additionally, because he didn't have spirits circuits- even now- and wouldn't be using them to cast it, the Elves shouldn't be able to recognize the ability as magic.

This would also be a good time to test out some other things...

Before he forgot- which he couldn't- or it became too late, Draga willed a moderately large wooden battering ram- decorated with a dragon's head for a front- into being by his feet. Then he ran through skills that might be useful here- without being overt in their use.

 **Pathokinesis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 90.00% MP:10000**

The power to manipulate emotions. It was weak now- to the point where even casting a hundred stacks of it on himself barely registered. Fortunately, that alone leveled it up twelve times, but it wouldn't be winning him any fights quite yet. More than likely, it was a thing he'd need to grind up for later. Since he _could_ use it on himself, it was just something to grind before he went after anyone else.

What about new skills, though? He'd unlocked so many during his training that it was hard to keep track of them, even if he'd remember them to the end of time.

Problem was... He hadn't really unlocked many useful ones. He couldn't show himself to be a god among men, so virtually everything from Strength and Dexterity was out. Because of what it actually did, Vitality wouldn't be of any use here, while Luck was just laughable. The only skill that didn't just improve the map, critical strike damage, or drop rates was an ability gave him a chance to refund the cost of his skills.

Wisdom and Intelligence meanwhile were either raw increases to his power and elemental abilities or... Okay, he remembered a skill Jaune from one of the earlier timelines used that- with a few of them at once- was able to nuke a battlefield.

Basically that.

Ordinarily, he'd have just lept into spamming Abyss, acquiring subtler spells, but it was then that he ceased being alone.

 **[LVL48]**

 **Elanna, The Wind**

 **[LVL53]**

 **Alarak, The Mountain**

 _Not much of a mountain there, bub._ Alarak was bulkier than the average Elf, for sure, but that didn't mean a whole lot here. The man was about his height, which was slightly short among Elves, but had stocky shoulders and enough muscle built onto him to bring him close to two-fifty.

Definitely under nine hundred years old, from the look of things, while Elanna was a tad older. Perhaps thirteen hundred? They were dressed pretty typically as far as Elves went. Lots of tame greens and blues set on thin and almost skin tight clothing, revealing a lot of intermittent skin on the arms, shoulders, and shins.

Not that he couldn't see everything with Clairvoyance, but their appearance told him one important thing: they weren't royals or decorated mages.

His cursory examination complete, Draga set about looking like an awkward human out of his element. To that end, he gave them a broad goofy grin and closed his eyes while scratching the back of his neck with one hand. "Hey, you two! What's with the barrier?"

"Oh, that," Elanna said, laying a hand on the barrier. "Just a simple security precaution. Felel was concerned with Dhampir getting in."

 _Yeah, right. Dhampir might not be able to teleport normally, but they can shadowstep. This is meant to stop humans._ Whoever this Felel character was- probably the head of the Cleftinai family- he needed a reality check, which he was fortunately equipped to give.

This also gave him a great excuse to challenge him to a game.

"I'd like to challenge him to a game regarding that rule. Can you bring me to him?"

They glanced between one another, a silent conversation passing between them. It wasn't quite telepathy, but something similar, and of which he wasn't privy to even with Clairvoyance able to witness their brain directly. While he knew the general functions of the various sections, anything beyond that was... Impossible, frankly. Mind reading was another skill he should probably get through Abyss, but he couldn't just eat a book in front of them.

 **"Yes you can."**

 _Why do I keep needing reminders from her? Has it really been so long since I've been forced to think, such that a child has surpassed me?_

Er... Not really a child anymore, since she was fast approaching twenty four years of existence, but close enough. Not matter how adult he may or may not be, a decade with him wasn't exactly going to bring her up to the maturity she would normally have by this point.

Letting the point go, Draga fell under the veil of Tachyon. While was free to, he cast Abyss a few times, immediately eating the books he withdrew.

 **Thoughtsteal (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000, 10000 per second**

 **The mind is largely a physical process- the simple passage of electrical and chemical signals between cells. The soul is just a layer over the top, representing the conscious, but it can be tapped into through the natural emanations of the soul.**

 **Allows the user to perceive, through sight, the conscious thoughts of those within vision.**

 **Thoughtsteel (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000, 10000 per second**

 **To view the thoughts of another, their soul must be bared to all. This is normally inescapable, with even inactive souls secreting small minuscule bits of itself. That process cannot be stopped, but it can be countered by simply calling it back in.**

 **Actively masks the users thoughts from detection via the soul.**

 **Actively increases MP regen by 1%.**

 **White Noise (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000, 1000 per second**

 **Not thinking- or having your thoughts truly protected- simply isn't possible. The best that can be achieved, when faced with the innumerable methods of accessing the mind of others, is to overshadow the whole with an undiscernable noise.**

 **Actively blankets the users thoughts with a haze, the intensity of which scales with Int, Wisdom, and skill level.**

They were enough for his purposes. Nothing was stopping him from simply repeating the process in the future.

Once the light from the book absorption process was gone, he took his original position and let Tachyon collapse. To the eyes of the Elves, nothing would have been different, but now he had a whole new sense to work through.

 _"We were told to keep humans out- why would we go back on that?"_

 _"The man is clearly a fool, Elanna. He's by himself, with nothing on him but a golden flower. Even Felel would have nothing against us scamming the unlucky bastard."_

What charming thoughts. Truly, his opinion of Alarak was skyrocketing.

 _"You know what, fine. Do as you please- but when this all comes crashing down around your head, I want no part of it."_

The conversation abruptly ended there, with the pair turning towards him. As expected, Alarak took the lead and spoke to him. "Felel would be honored to play a game with you. What do you have to offer him, and what do you want in return."

"Fantastic," Draga remarked, giving him an easy smile despite the string of silent insults he got for it. "I have a golden flower, and some information I will only disclose with him, and I only want some help finding something I lost in Elven Gard before the barrier came up."

That seemed to satisfy them- though their interest was peaked with the information bit- and they quickly began an incantation. Draga made sure to memorize the spell, for when he eventually gave himself spirit circuits. They would be useful- particularly since use of the Suniaster, which was the source of Tet's power, required them.

A moment later, he was in the main hall of some elaborate palace. Draga could visibly see the surprise on some peoples face, and the relative lack of care on many others.

It was on particular reaction that got to him- the sudden frown, accompanied by a scowl, that he got from one Felel Cleftinai.

 **[LVL74]**

 **Felel, The Hand Of Kanias**

"Human," he tersely stated, getting the attention of the crowd in the process. "State your business, before we deal with you accordingly."

Draga smiled- or, it looked like that through Fantasy. Underneath, he was smirking devilishly. He'd never really liked the Elves- some lingering feeling from the Demonia's hatred of them- but this individual... He just looked so punchable. He was tall- nearing eight feet- and sat on an exquisite throne in the middle of the room. Two smaller chairs sat on either side, in which sat what appeared to be his wife and daughter, both looking inattentive and bored.

His choice of clothing did wonders for it, too. A thick purple cape, with the inside lined with gold, atop a green- though far more neon than any grass he'd seen- regal garb. His suit was as close to human as he could manage, but the raiment draped over his shoulders and missing undershirt shattered the image, making him look all the more unnatural. Not that his straight blond hair- normally a female trait among Elves- didn't already do that.

 _I am going to enjoy putting you down._ And once he did, he'd have the authority to fix things. Put someone who actually _deserved_ power in his place, over the pompous jerk before him. That might take time, but hey, he had a lot of it.

"I come to challenge you to a game, Felel," he said, falling to one knee and bowing before him. If nothing else, it kept him from seeing Draga roll his eyes. "I come bearing a golden flower-" which he held up, then, "- along with the knowledge of how to create more using magic." Technically, not a lie. He just avoided mentioning that it wouldn't work with _their_ particular brand of magic. "All I ask in return is something that once belonged to me. It wasn't earned- or stolen, since that's impossible- but simply misplaced before the barrier came up."

He tapped his chin a few times, actually sparing a glance to his wife. She nodded once, and that seemed to get him to agree.

His continuous dumping of mana into Pathkinesis might have also helped with that.

"Very well, human. We shall play a simple game- something quick, to save us all some time." He turned to one of the other people in the room- though he struggled to tell if it was a servant or a member of his family. "Be a dear and fetch us a deck, would you?"

The woman- because of course it was- went off to do as he asked. Draga made sure to keep an eye on her through Clairvoyance, to at least be warned of any foul play, but she didn't do anything worthy of note on the trip.

That didn't mean Felel wasn't going to cheat himself. Actually, he was almost certainly going to, which made it all the more funny how he was in a position to cheat that much harder and better.

"One hand or several?" Draga asked, while they waited.

"Best of three," he answered simply, turning as their playing cards arrived.

A table was brought out for them and layed out on the floor. Felel had a cushion brought down for him, while Draga was left to sit on the floor, but that didn't really matter. Discomfort didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but one thing did... "Can I inspect the deck before we begin?"

"Absolutely," Felel stated, gesturing for it to be laid before him. "We'll begin when you're ready."

For the sake of appearances, Draga ran through the front and back of the cards. Thanks to Clairvoyance, he'd already scanned the things before they entered the room, but it was important to look at least moderately competent here. The actual plan came into effect as he fell into Tachyon.

The cards promptly found themselves in his Inventory, replaced instead with a Fantasy. They were tangible, matched the texture and weight of the playing cards, but were also non-physical objects. That was going to be important, as it meant they couldn't be manipulated with Elven magic, such as how Steph had originally lost in the crown tournament.

Of course, the fact that it still let him do that exact thing was a nice bonus.

Tachyon came to a close, and he _graciously_ dealt the cards for the both of them.

"To a fair and swift game," Draga said, not even glancing at his hand. He didn't have to, and would avoid it just to screw with him. Still, only a pair of sevens to start with? That wouldn't do. At the thought, the cards shifted, replacing it with a four jack hand.

"Aschente," Felel stated- accepting the limitations of the ten pledges.

"Aschente," Draga agreed.


	85. Will-3

**I don't know why, exactly, but I lost about 1k words worth of work while writing this on top of being swamped in economics homework/studying... Then there was writing the sketch for The Bear Festival, and the holidays, adjusting to a new sleep schedule, arranging for the rewrite on Litnet, and...**

 **Fuck, man. Far too much shit for me to deal with.**

 **This chapter is gonna be a bit late- I can already tell, despite being only 800 words (supposed to be 1800...) in, but hey... I'm sorry?**

 **Back to writing, I guess.**

* * *

"You _have_ to be cheating!"

That was hardly the first shout, and with how many people were present, it wasn't anywhere close to the last either. Everyone, from the servants all the way to Felel himself, seemed against the very idea that a mere human could beat an Elf- mostly because they, much like he, knew that the bastard had tried to cheat. The fact that it hadn't worked just made it all the more satisfying.

Draga weathered the storm of anger like the detached emotionless machine he sometimes was. Anger required him to care for their opinions, and there were very few people that applied to. Considering that most of them were from flawed or amoral people to begin with also helped, since he likely wouldn't face _any_ moral judgement from them for cheating his ass off here.

The entire time, Draga just sat on the ground in the main hall. He didn't even track his opponent with his eyes, remaining content to just stare forward and track him with any number of other skills. The Blind Fist, his air displacement, the water in his body, Clairvoyance, his emotions, the emanations of his soul... Honestly, the man was a god damn beacon- though one that was, unfortunately, surrounded by many other such beacons.

Eventually, the tirade of insults and accusations came to a lull, allowing him to actually address them.

"If you think I cheated, you are free to tell me how; I dealt in only the first game and you provided the deck." He smirked, raising his hands in a wide shrug. "After all, if you prove I cheated, then you automatically win."

Felel seethed, his teeth gritted together as he glared daggers at him. He didn't remain silent, though- as he should have. Instead, he decided to 'prove' how he cheated. "I couldn't cast on the cards- they clearly aren't the original deck we started with!"

"So you attempted to cheat and failed," Draga returned easily, smirk only growing. "How is that on me?"

He drew out one of the cards, lifting it before him and letting magic visibly wash over it.

Draga smiled wider, but masked it with Tachyon. Under its guise, he dismissed the Fantasy and replaced each card with their real world equivalent. After double checking the deck order- since they might have been watching that with some other spell he couldn't actually see- he returned to his seat.

Time fell back into place, with the jack of diamonds suddenly transforming into the ace of spades in Felel's hand.

Of course, he didn't see it that way, since the card was being held out towards Draga. It took a moment for him to recognize that the smile was still plastered to his face, and only then did he flip the card around and see its face.

Just to be extra obnoxious, Draga reached out and flipped the deck- correcting the trajectory with a silent manipulation of air- and has the real ace stick to his forehead.

"So," Draga began, very real joviality absolutely swimming in his voice- even after the emotion itself faded a few seconds later. "I do believe that marks it as my victory. That makes it time for my reward."

Felel growled, or tried to at least. Elven vocal cords weren't designed with that sound in mind. Nonetheless, no man nor god could resist the pledges- not even Tet himself, apparently- which meant it was time for the much bigger twist for him.

"Very well, _human,_ " he spat, though the venom was more so in how even his voice was despite his clear anger. "What is it you lost?"

"Not quite lost... It was something of mine which simply wasn't returned to me after a game with it."

He tried to growl again. "That's not the point, and you know it! Spit it out, before I cut out your tongue!"

"The pledges, Felel," Draga remarked, meeting his livid gaze flatly. "For that, you'd need to beat me at another game. Trial by combat, perhaps? Any collateral damage there would simply be par for the course- no harm done."

He could _see_ the man's thoughts, both literally, in the sense of his newest ability, but also in the minor changes in his facial expression and exactly how he paced. Not that either of those were necessary when Draga could just, you know, witness each heart beat, accurately measure his blood pressure, and even note the itch that had begun to form at the base of his jaw.

Uncomfortable didn't even begin to describe him. Felel knew it was a trap- as he should, with how blatantly obvious it was made- but it could just as easily be a bluff. He was only human, and it was the only way out of doing as the _lesser organism_ wanted.

It was almost satisfying when he finally cracked. If only he'd taken the fight...

"Just tell me what you're looking for," Felel grunted. At least, it sounded like that with how much pure 'cannot be asked' was radiating through him.

"Sure thing," Draga replied, standing up and strolling closer to the man's elaborate throne. His right hand rose up, held out with his palm before the crown prince. An instant later, the image of his desire shone over it, the Fantasy out for all to see.

The Elf's eyes widened suddenly, shock coming through his own voice while cries of denial sprung from the crowd. " _Absolutely_ _not!_ There is no way in hell a _miscreant_ like _you_ ever layed claim to it!" The sounds from the crowd were much of the same, a string of continuous rebuttals which would have been impossible for most to even process.

As ever, Draga waded through it with ease, keeping his expression and tone completely level, but letting both his air affinity and White Tiger's Roar carry his voice over them all. "You never asked my name, Felel, and that was your mistake." It really was. Just as Sora failed to recognize him, Felel had too, but he'd not bother to ask a mere human to introduce himself. "My name is Draga Konungur, the one who battled Tet in the skies above, and I demand the Race Piece be returned to me immediately."

Panic had already set in by then, but it was further invigorated by the sudden declaration, which only grew worse when they began to realize what his Fantasy really was. It was magic, which they not only couldn't detect with their spirit circuits, but which wouldn't have been possible for a human in the first place.

With that realization came accusations as to his nature, some going so far as to call him a dark god. Those were quickly silenced- not through words, but action.

Gorgon- an ability he'd yet to really use, simply because all of his enemies were normally too high a level for it- set fear into Felel first. His eyes were directly on him, after all. The rest weren't spared, though, as he used a combination of Fantastical eyes and Clairvoyance to stare every single one of them down.

"I will repeat myself once for you people," Draga said, when the room had stilled. "You will give me my property."

"O-or what?" Felel stuttered.

Draga watched him calmly for a moment, his expression perfectly level. Felel's veins and mind flushed with chemicals, those linked to the fight or flight response, and he actually looked like he'd pick the former before Draga cut it off.

"Even if you had a right to deny me my spoils- which, I would like to remind you, you don't- there are many things I could do to you."

Another flex of Tachyon, another skillbook eaten, and the familiar rush of knowledge as he gained another skill.

 **Illusion Barrier (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000000**

 **Reality is such a fragile concept. The smallest of hallucinations or sensory developments can entirely change what the word actually means, and despite the shared existence of everything, many can disagree with one another about what that means. However... A few dreamed to disagree with the universe itself on what reality meant.**

 **Places a new reality over the old, giving the user a limited control over the space. This reality is tangential, meaning environmental damage doesn't transfer to the old, but positions are relative.**

 **Barrier cannot be broken physically, but sufficient magical pressure or recasting this ability over the same space will shatter it.**

Felel didn't get a chance to see Draga's smile before The Gamer abruptly exploded. Fire washed over them- coating the duplicate carpets and tapestries while igniting the wooden furniture- and yet the Elves themselves remained completely unharmed. His conscious will kept the eruption of lightning from impacting them too, but the same could not be said for the gust of wind which forced them all back a step or two.

The display of power ended as quickly as it began- if you were willing to ignore the impossibly harmless inferno the throne room had turned into.

"While it's true that I cannot attack you directly, and break the ten pledges..." Draga explained slowly, making sure Felel- and everyone else, for that matter- heard the entire thing. "I am absolutely able to destroy more than you can reasonably protect." His ring glowed for an instant, warping him the short distance to Felel. Their eyes met- inches apart, with Draga's turning into slitted orbs through Fantasy. "Give me the Race Piece, Felel."

* * *

"That went well."

 **"It's sad that I have to agree..."**

"Hey!" Draga shouted back at the voice in his head. Totally sane thing to do, by the way, when there _is_ an actual voice in your head. "I got exactly what I wanted in mere minutes, gained a few new skill of unquestionable usefulness, and even got power back in the Nirvalen family while I was at it. What's not to like?"

 **"The methods, for one,"** she retorted, which he accepted easily. Intimidation and cheating were common tactics on Disboard, but they were still regarded as slightly scummy. That didn't stop people from doing it, and likely never would, but the point still stood. **"But I'm more worried about the extremely forceful approach. Won't people rebel against you?"**

Draga rolled his eyes, giving the Race Piece in his hands a quick flip of his fingers. "If they could, I'm sure they'd try, but there's an important motto Izuna taught me way back when. A kind man has few enemies, but a ruthless man has none."

Based on the groan she gave in reply, she didn't agree, but that only made him smile.

"Look, Chara, whatever works. If the Elves, or anyone else, wants to be a dick to us..." he trailed off, his eyes locked onto a figure in the distance. He was being watched- stalked even- by a Dhampir.

Once it realized he was there, it quickly threw itself behind cover and scampered off, but that didn't stop Draga from following it through his gaze. The Dhampir was male, and clearly among the lowest rings of society. Its clothing was ragged, which was unfortunate because it had a variety of burns from sunlight. Was it so down the tree that it didn't have a shelter to go to?

It still had the common succubi traits typical of the species- from the tail, to the slightly deformed wings sprouting from its shoulderblades. It also had less natural traits, like more than two elongated fangs and what looked like fur in place of its facial hair. It's hands were wrong, too, giving him an extra finger and genuine claws in place of the sharp nails he'd seen previously.

That would explain its nameplate, at least.

 **[LVL24]**

 **Eleven Claws**

No title, or... No name? Was that its title? He only vaguely understood Dhampir culture, having let Jibril and Shiro handle them since they frequently underestimated women. A mistake on their part, but that meant they were likely to overestimate him, even before it saw him blatantly flipping about a Race Piece. Sure, doing that posed no risk to the object itself, but it showed a casual disregard for the power it brought- even if he hadn't intended to show anything like that.

Except... Did he want the Dhampir to know that? If they knew he had it, and 'didn't understand its importance', they might challenge him for it, which would put him on the defense. Normally, that would be bad, but it meant he got to decide the game, and Plum- the Dhampir representative- hadn't ever really interacted with him.

The species was more observant than Elves- having senses superior to most animals, though still lesser than Warbeasts- which would make cheating harder, but still possible. If he got to choose the game? It would be an almost instant victory. What possible reason did he have to stop it from getting back, then?

Draga let it go, a hand he hadn't even realized he'd raised falling back to his side. He still watched it from a distance, though, tracking where it was headed. Since he'd never been, he still had no idea where the representative of the Dhampir lived, and this was likely his best shot to find out. In a timely manner, at least. If he really wanted to- which he didn't, given how frustratingly long it would take- he could just map out the region from Electrical Silhouette.

After letting it gain enough distance, Draga started after it, making sure to maintain the mile divide between them.

He still had a number of questions, though. Sora had taken part in saving the Dhampir from near extinction, when the only male alive was the representative Plum, but... Why was this male here, then? Any of his offspring would _have_ to be royalty.

He needed more information.

As he moved, he drew up the Observe panel on Eleven Claws and read.

* * *

The location the Dhampir lead him to was... Underwhelming. A few clumsily built houses inside a cave; more mud and sticks than carved stone. It would last well enough, since the cave sloped upwards from the entrance and protected it from the elements, but he still scoffed at the craftsmanship.

More Dhampir were inside- or 'Dhampir', since he'd actually gained some insight from the Observe he'd done earlier. They weren't pure blooded, or even close, but rather a cross between Warbeast and Dhampir. Not made in the sexual way, either, but forcibly created through magic.

Not Godly magic, either, hence the shoddy work. They were genetically ruined, having functional but reduced abilities in all categories. They were still alive, though, and that meant they were either created recently or had the ability to breed with one another. Based on the children- if he wanted to call the near feral creatures he saw inside the huts that- he was gonna have to assume the latter.

Was this an attempt to bypass Plum's existence? He was the only male adult- given that he was the only male about two years ago- and that alone was enough to make him a representative. He'd been that way for a while, and had spent so long without giving them an heir.

Magically conjuring more males would work, if they could manage it, but Dhampir's magic required the essence of other beings, which was in short supply after the Pledges took hold, and hadn't really gotten any easier since. They would need someone else to manage it- someone with a strong soul- and it made sense to target a Warbeast for that.

Weak enough to take down but strong enough to be useful.

That would have had unfortunate consequences, though... Experiments to determine what Blood Destruction actually was doing yielded the result that their soul itself carried their physical form with them. Using that to try and spawn a Dhampir would...

He let the train of thought end. These things weren't going to replace Plum anytime soon, so they weren't worth worrying about. He'd just need to tell Plum about them later...

 _Oh. Ooh! Now that's useful._

 **"You're thinking something menacing again."**

Draga brushed the comment away. Scheming was not inherently good or evil, and at worst he was being morally neutral here. They would rather he not get the Race Piece, since it would have consequences on them, but they would also get whatever they wanted- almost- if he won. What was the sacrifice for what was effectively an infinite genie?

They'd just need to be aware of it ahead of time- take up positions where falling over wouldn't kill them. Maybe get some food in beforehand.

Regardless, this wasn't where he needed to be. Draga did a quick 360 scan, finding no cities within convenient distance, and just picked a direction to move. The 'Dhampir' would be important later, but only once he found Plum in person.

* * *

Draga let out a breath he literally hadn't been holding, finally touching down from his trip through the sky. Unlike Elven Gard, he had absolutely no problem effectively warping into the Chaos Court, as much as it still surprised the women on the balcony he appeared at.

He'd only heard the name a few times before, but it was a castle the Dhampir had taken up residence in after the Seiren and Dhampir fell out with one another and the Dhampir had to leave Oceando. A shame, since he wouldn't have had any problems locating the underwater capital and could have knocked out two birds with one stone.

A quick visual dissection of the castle found his target- Plum. The man had matured a lot, from his original form, but was still strange effeminate in appearance. The bright purple cloak and black tunic beneath that helped to break up his abnormally wide hips and masked his shoulders- making them appear broader- but that mattered little when you could literally see through matter.

At least his face had grown up normally. He had the beginnings of stubble, along with an elongated jaw and two rather large fangs which bit slightly into his lip. His eyes were harder as well, though that was weakened slightly by the bags under his eyes. Long nights, perhaps? It didn't take much effort to guess why.

He _did_ have children, which told good things for the future of the race, but so did the forty or so pregnant Dhampir littered about the castle. He'd make sure to avoid bringing it up in conversation.

Before he came down, it was pertinent that he change his appearance. If Plum remembered him, this process would go a lot faster, but it would be really hard to convince him that he _was_ Draga if he still looked like a body builder sibling.

The system was just as he remembered. It froze time, allowing him to exit his physical form and view it from the outside. From there, his thoughts would edit it, allowing him to change almost anything. Equipped items were stuck, but could at least be recolored, which didn't account for much when only Kembar was actually on. A small ring wasn't exactly obtrusive.

At his command, a hundred pounds of muscle and bone vanished, dropping his height a number of inches in the process. He was actually shorter than Plum was, now, by a few centimeters. Hm...

Just to be a jerk, Draga brought himself back up to exactly two centimeters above him- not accounting for his thicker hair. His clothing took a lot more deliberation, but he felt comfortable with his final choice.

When the process came to and end, Draga was wearing a pair of black dress shoes and socks, a matching set of slacks with a thin red stripe down both sides. His shirt was similarly colored, but was a t-shirt featuring the head of a Dragon on the back and king chess piece on the front- both in bright red. Atop that, he layered a leather jacket, more for comfort than for appearance.

Once he was satisfied, he made his way back into his body, taking it over again and letting time resume around him. The sudden transformation did not go unnoticed, but he did ignore the cries of shock or sudden questions from the even further startled women watching him.

One impossibly curved bolt of lightning later and Draga was standing before the king. Plum was equally as surprised as the various consorts in his dining room, but he recovered a lot quicker, and the recognition in his eyes was reassuring. Draga gave him an easy smile, which was actually returned for once, though Plum's died an ugly death when he saw the rook in one of Draga's hands.

"Is that..." he began, only to be interrupted.

"Yep." Draga's smile grew slightly, taking on a sinister edge. "Gonna need yours, too."


	86. Will-4

**Oh boy, temporary evictions! Aren't they just the best? We get a small leak in our ceiling, but, since asbestos isn't a legal building material anymore, they can't just patch the less than a dime sized hole. Instead, they have to tear the whole fucker out and replace it over the next four days.**

 **On the bright side, I have my good bud Shawn here who's letting me crash with him. Say hi, Shawn.**

 **SWASDOLE fools! ~Shawn**

 **I believe that's "Swah-z-de-la," or 'Hello' from some dude in Warframe.**

 **This won't actually impair my ability to write- if anything, I'll be doing a lot more of it since I'll be out of things to meaningfully distract me- so the deadlines should be unaffected.**

 **Expect Will-5 sometime in the next two days.**

* * *

"Sure."

"Great, I can get a game going any ti-"

Plum brought up a hand, silencing him. "You misunderstand. You can have it."

Draga blinked- something he had done in hours. Then, for good measure, he did it a few more times. "Pardon?"

"What, you think I'm stupid?" Plum raised an eyebrow in challenge, but when Draga said nothing his expression became neutral again. "If I say no, you're just gonna find some way to trap me. I know you- and I know a number of loopholes in the pledges- so it serves me little to try and stop you."

"And... That's enough for you to just give it to me?"

Plum shook his head, instantly putting Draga on guard. "Nothing of the sort- I definitely want payment for it, but that will come after you win. My wish was... Anticlimactic, all told. I wanted to change the species and make life easier," he explained, glancing around for something. Based on his thoughts, he was scanning for anyone listening in- besides the other Dhampir, obviously- and Draga could confirm that there were none. "With Tet's help, the Dhampir no longer require blood to mature. We can get by our entire lives just off absorbing spirits."

Well, that was certainly an improvement. It would also explain, at least in part, why he wanted to keep that a secret. Even if they didn't need blood to mature, it was still more powerful than, say, sweat; letting the other races still believe they needed it would make it easier to bargain for it. They would still try and stiff them, obviously, but more people would be open to the deal in the first place.

Except that very line of thinking would devalue the wish. If they were still trading or playing games for it, there wasn't much point in _not needing_ it.

"You think the wish was wasted, don't you?"

He nodded. "It would help ensure the species in the future, which is great, but I could have done that in other ways. You, after you get the Suniaster from Tet, could do literally anything to help us."

"Wait," Draga said, raising his hand. "Why didn't you ask for the Suniaster, then? Or, if not you, I'm sure Artosh would have gone for it."

Plum remained silent for a moment, as if considering how to answer. Eventually, he sighed. "It was a technicality, actually. Artosh and Kirase both asked the Suniaster, for different reasons, so Tet had to explain why he wouldn't hand it over. I believe he said- and don't quote me on this- 'I only promised the victor the option. I'll still grant a wish to each of you... Just not that.' Artosh actually had to burn through a number of attempts before finally getting something he wanted."

"Was he wishing for the same thing, just in different ways?" Plum nodded. "Yeah... Sounds like him."

"Right. The only way any of us is gonna get it is by challenging him again." Plum held on hand out, offering to shake hands. "Three wishes, like a Djinn, and you have my support."

Draga smiled, taking hold of his hand and giving it a hearty shake. "I'll do you one better." A pause. "Four."

Plum snorted, chuckling suddenly as Draga joined in. He took him aside, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sure we'll get along swimmingly," he managed between shaking bouts of laughter. "For now, though, you have a job to do, and I have a kingdom to run. Anything else you wanted to talk about?"

The sudden silence that came over Draga answered before his words could.

"What is it?"

Inhaling sharply, Draga turned to him with a frown. "I found some hybrid creatures out in the while- half Warbeast Dhampir. I think they were an early attempt to replace you..."

The king matched his sharp inhale with his own, looking far more serious about that. "I... I see." He stepped away, raising a hand to bite on his thumb. "I will need to do some investigation into that. Thank you... For bringing it to my attention."

Whatever guilt Draga felt washed away in an instant, despite the man's words. "Right..." He turned away, making the motion to leave. "See you when it's time to win, okay?"

Plum nodded, and it didn't take the ability to read his thoughts to see the turmoil going on inside.

 _Dammit Tet..._

A flash of lightning, and he was gone.

* * *

Three out of sixteen. Not bad, for a real world hour of work. In comparison to the two years it took Exceed the first time, he was blazing through things. He was out of exceptionally easy matches however, and he was about to enter a boss stage- less for the actual difficulty of the games involved, but more so the people he would be playing against.

Or person, rather.

Clairvoyance let him scour the ground for tunnels. Specifically, he was looking for the narrow shoots leading downward- frequently referred to as Hellevators- instead of the vastly more common Dwarven tunnels. He knew where a number of them were, from his time actually living down there, but they were all back near Warbeast territory. It would serve him to not reveal his magic to them quite yet.

Fortunately, there was one such hole almost a mile or so off. An instantly later, he stood on the edge and peered perilously into it. The darkness that took over it a few dozen feet down didn't impair his vision, letting him see the straight fall of about two miles.

Down at the bottom, there was a contraption which could bring you up, but the demons rarely used them. Those that couldn't fly, with wings or magic, usually just stayed down there anyway.

Taking a single step towards the thirty foot abyss, he fell, reclining back in a relaxed position. No matter how much he did it, the feeling of the wind whipping by his face or the rush of air through his clothing just brought about a feeling of intense calm.

Unlike everything else, Gamer's Mind didn't see fit to strip that from him, which made it the objectively best feeling.

Unfortunately, two miles was hardly a lengthy trip. Even without using Streamline (which was entirely passive...) to negate air resistance, it would only last around a minute. As it stood, it took him about half that to crater the ground below. He would have hit the Hellevator, but a subtle shift in his direction had him landing next to it instead.

Whatever stone he crashed into- which he didn't actually know... Studying the different kinds of bedrock didn't really help when trying to win games against godlike creatures- it wasn't enough to stop him from just standing back up like nothing happened.

Brushing a little dust from his shoulder, Draga did a quick 360 with his eyes. At least, that's how it seemed, but he didn't really need to turn his head to do it.

He was a ways from anywhere he'd been before personally, but the underground cavern he found himself in did have a few relevant landmarks. More notable, and far more useful, was the fact that his Map automatically adjusted to the cavern system. Since he actually knew what the unnamed regions were- at least some that were far away- he could calculate where he needed to go.

 _The runner takes his mark!_ Draga got down on one knee, his other foot tilted up slightly as the rock beneath it shifted into a small platform. _The starting gun is fired, and it's off to the races, folks!_

Stone didn't shatter, so much as cease existing entirely as it was stepped on. Each leg movement carried him across entire tunnel- just smashing through whenever there was a curved segment as he sprinted along. Only around thirty steps later, he'd arrived at his destination, smashing through what he vaguely thought was granite to arrive in Hell.

Hell was actually a pretty nice place- discounting the giant hole he'd just made in the wall of it. More than a hundred miles in both directions and with a sky almost a mile up, it was incredibly spacious. With an artificial sky created by a number of the more powerful demons and tunnels stretching out across the entire world- and under every ocean- it was undeniably greater than the grand city of Pandemonium.

Not to say that wasn't a marvel in its own right. With structures built reaching up to and sometimes through the ceiling, and monstrously large iron pillars holding up the surface, it had plenty to distract from the citizens themselves. Unlike all the other races- with the exception of the Phantasma- each individual had true uniqueness thanks to their shapeshifting abilities. The Phantasma were different, though, since they had limitation in regard to their size- they were all stupidly large, ranging from mountains to planets. As a result, there was actually a lot less variety than the demons- even just within sight range of where he was.

Resting on a barren crag, he saw what looked like a Dragon, if not for the fact its scales were only being simulated by perfectly sculpted fur. Meanwhile, just North of it, a family of Naga were busy roasting what looked like a Calydonian Boar. Not the original, obviously, but one of a breed designed to be similar.

That was just the beginning. Off in the city, he could already see more forms of demons than he would have been able to count without The Game.

The city itself was equally chaotic, with buildings from every building style imaginable. A Gothic cathedral sat beside a Japanese castle- both buildings surrounded by a collection of more normal looking German and Italian houses. Throughout, skyscrapers towered over everything, with their only competition in the form of of the few fortresses and palaces which had been built by the various kings of Pandemonium.

Overseeing it all from atop the Chaos Castle- which wasn't actually the tallest or largest building in Pandemonium, but was undoubtedly the most expensive- was Kirase. The man was identical to how he'd seen him before, with yellow slitted eyes resting in a bestial- largely feline- face and ebony fur accented by the pitch black robe with golden trim. He looked menacing, but his title actually brought a smile to Draga's face.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Kirase, The Omega**

 _God damn right- I'm the alpha now._

Kirase was looking directly at him, despite the nearly nine mile distance between the two of them. Draga could only manage it through broken game abilities, but sure, Sauron over there was gonna see him with ordinary mortal eyeballs.

Balance.

With no reason not to, Draga crouched slightly and lept- or more accurately Lunged- the distance between them. A few summoned platforms to take the impact instead of the palace and Draga landed neatly beside the king of all evil.

Who promptly smirked while cracking a fist against Draga's own.

"Asmo, buddy!" he shouted in greeting, wrapping his near-fluid arms around Draga's back in a hug. "How kind of you to join me; it's been far too long."

"You have no idea, man," Draga returned, patting the demon's back as they embraced. He was warm and fluffy, despite the more dangerous elements of his form, like the elongated fangs or retractable claws. "I've gotta be, like, thirty six by now."

 **"Give or take an extra year."**

Kirase shot backwards suddenly- accidentally yanking Draga with him and leaving him to ungracefully smash his face into the stone tower. Draga made a show of getting back up and giving him a blank stare.

"What was that?"

"Didn't you hear the voice?" he asked, eyes searching in all directions as the fox-like ears on his head swiveled about. "Someone is listening in."

Draga smirk, and subsequent chuckling, broke down his guard a bit. "Please, man- it's just Chara." In his head, she made some vague sound of agreement. "You know how you used to have voices in your head?" Kirase nodded slowly. "Well, now I got mine."

"You got possessed?" he asked, a single eyebrow raised. "Sounds like you've had quite the journey- care to come inside and trade stories?"

The invitation sounded great, on the surface. Time spent reconnecting with an old friend, and shapeshifting didn't stop Draga from reading his mind. No matter his faults, Kirase genuinely wanted to catch up with him.

Except he couldn't, and his reluctance must have shown on his face since Kirase frowned. "I see..." He sighed, the sound vaguely reminiscent to an angry purr. "If you're not free for that, would you at least tell me what brings you here? I assume it wasn't just to say hello."

"No..." Draga ran a hand through his hair, trying to form his words in a way that wouldn't anger him. Unfortunately... That didn't seem to be possible, so he just spoke his mind. "Tet has effectively issued a personal challenge to me. I get the pieces again, challenge him, and finally learn why he's screwing around with everything. I would get the Suniaster, too, so I'd be able to pay you or anyone else back as well."

Kirase closed his eyes, and- if his breathing hadn't stopped- he'd have looked perfectly calm about the whole thing. Draga knew him too well, though, and wisely took a step back when he exhaled through his nose.

An instantly later, his claws lashed out before him, only narrowly missing their target.

Draga flipped backwards to create some distance, while still being able to speak. "Calm down, Kirase!"

He wasn't listening- clearly. The demon king lunged forward with speed comparable to Draga's own, but with a far more vicious intent. Each strike hit nothing but air, even as Kirase using his shapeshifting ability to maneuver in midair, as Draga just bounded around and off of summoned platforms.

"Let me hit you!" he growled, his normally feline tail swinging out with a snakes head. The two inch fangs, like everything else, failed to make contact.

"That's not going to happen," Draga sighed, whipping up a wall of flame to blind him momentarily. Kirase burst through it completely unscathed, as expected, but Draga had already lept to the city below. "Remember the pledges! Everything on Disboard is solved through games!"

Kirase growled again, landing on the wall of one of the skyscrapers and rebounding it at speeds which ignited the air he passed through. "On Disboard, Draga," he called down in a familiar saying. "We're inside Disboard." It was a loophole of sorts the Demons had arranged long ago. Tet let it go, to a small extent, hence how they hadn't already been stopped by the obnoxious deity. It was just his shitty luck that the one time he needed Tet's interruption was when it was impossible.

Following from the loophole, however, was the method they used to determine victors instead. He who was the most powerful ruled, at least within Hell, and Kirase held the 'elected' office through his own strength. That reason alone was why nobody challenged the Demonia over Hell or Pandemonium before Exceed. It wasn't worth the risk, both to the Demonia and to the species taking over the underground.

Which raised the question of why he would _choose_ to engage in a fight with him. If he lost, his throne and everything it came with would be... it would...

 _Oh._

Draga caught a spinning kick on one arm, using the leverage of his other the limb upwards. As he had in a duel so long ago, Kirase simply flipped over himself and lunged in for another swipe the instant a foot touched down.

 _Oh..._

Grabbing Kirase's exposed wrist, Draga pulled him in, crashing their chests together. The Gamer's strength won out, knocking him back a few steps and leaving him open however briefly. In a fluid motion, stolen directly from Madara, Draga slid a step forward and ducked. An instant later, his foot shot up, plowing into his opponents chin and sending him careening backwards.

While he didn't have the skill, he remembered how to use it, and his Aura Skates manifested at his feet. Shoving off a nearby storefront, he skid along cobbled pathways, quickly catching up with his opponent before he was given a chance to gain his balance back.

The fight had already garnered a lot of attention by then, but his next attack alerted just about the entire city. An eruption of fire and lightning, contained into his fist, exploded in a massive and violent display as it met Kirase's own fist- the black paw thrown out in a desperate bid to stop him from hitting Kirase directly.

Whatever the demon lacked in elemental abilities, he made up for with his shapeshifting abilities. The strength difference meant next to nothing with Kirase multiplying his mass to a ridiculous extent before impact, and the fire and lightning were similarly ineffective.

Not that they weren't impressive. The white plume reached hundreds of feet in the air while the lightning glassed the road.

All in less than a second.

Slipping into Tachyon, Draga lept forward and swung his leg around. As expected, Kirase was unable to react as Draga's foot made contact with his head and sent him hurtling away the instant time came back. That wasn't right then, though, as Draga pulled together an Iniq Thun and sent it flying in his flight path first.

Demon king met fusion reactor to explosive results. Despite the mess Kirase was dealing with, he still had the sense to protect himself and the city. His body seemed to melt, wrapping around the miniature star and collapsing it just as the arrow did.

Except... That's not all he did. Clairvoyance left Draga able to see some inhuman digestive system devouring the energy and converting it into... Something. Even the ability to see down to the cellular level didn't really help determine what molecules were, and he was hardly knew enough chemistry to know what it would have been anyway.

He wasn't left waiting to find out. The moment Kirase reformed, his eyes locked on Draga and he prepared to spew whatever the liquid was at him.

Being someone with a functioning brain, Draga moved, Lunging up into the sky. Not only could he dodge in every direction from up there, but it would minimize the collateral damage from whatever Kirase threw out.

Smart move, as the dim green fluid didn't even need a spark to ignite itself on the way to him. Unfortunately for Kirase, that only worked in his favor, and a force of will forced the conflagration to turn right back around.

Unlike before, this particular flame ate away at Kirase's flesh, but anything lost was rapidly regenerated. It had to be the compound involved, rather than the heat itself, as his earlier attacks outstripped it in heat by several thousand degrees.

He needed a different plan of attack, something that could hurt or imprison him without being lethal. If he really wanted to, he could probably call upon more of Nurgle's Brew and just destroy whatever he came across, and Tzeentch would be deterred by Tet. Killing Kirase, though... Whatever he hated about the man, and he had been writing a list for his entire teenage years, he wasn't going to kill him.

Whether that was emotion clouding his judgement or the actual logical choice, he couldn't really tell, but it was a fact.

Throwing himself to the side, Draga handily evaded Kirase as he lunged up through the flames. Shame for him, Clairvoyance was more than able to see through the comparatively dim light.

A brief activation of Call Of The Storm, negating the cost of his lightning abilities for a brief instant, Draga lifted a hand. In a flash- both in terms of light and time- an amount of energy no longer applicably called electricity surged outward. The chemical bonds of the air shattered, the fission reactions only adding to the total energy of the beam which centered on Kirase's chest.

There wasn't really any blocking that- nor dodging, apparently, as Kirase had barely moved around an inch to the side before it carved a hole where his ribs should have been.

Of course, he didn't _have_ ribs, or any internal organs for that matter, but the attack still visibly pained him. That pain only increased when Draga swept his palm upward, the beam traveling with it as it not only cut through him but also carved a volcanic furrow in the cavern wall however many miles away.

The instant Call Of The Storm wore off, so did the attack. It cut off, suddenly, but Draga was already moving towards his wounded opponent.

Kirase recovered admirably, for someone just cut in half with a kerf of nearly twelve centimeters. His body bubbled up new material to replace the old as it essentially glued itself back together.

His lips were pulled back in a snarl- once they'd reformed, obviously- but were quickly obliterated as Draga Accelerated a punch into his face. Trying to come up with an analogy for what happened to the still fluid matter when impacted with that much force is... Not really possible, but the basest simplification was that his brand new skull splattered into a black goo over some poor Demon's house.

Even without a head, his body attempted to get away, and would have actually outran him if Tachyon hadn't effectively negated his ability to run. Before it had time to reform, Draga flipped up to the distant ceiling of Hell. With a single flex of his legs- and all of his abilities- he came down like a targeted missile.

Unstoppable force met very-movable object, and, well... One of them had to win.

Ordinarily, the loser would have actually been the ground as Draga just plowed him a ways into it, leaving Kirase relatively unharmed as the momentum bled out over time. That isn't quite what happened, though, as Draga summoned a platform directly beneath Kirase on impact.

Sure, the damn thing broke into an uncountable number of pieces, but it still tanked the hit long enough to resolve the entire attack.

That wasn't the end of the fight though- it never would have been. The black goo that had previously composed his body came together again, but it didn't remake his humanoid form. Instead, it expanded, growing in size as he took on his natural shape.

Dire wolves weren't that terrifying, right?

Nearly a hundred feet in length, with proper proportions in height and width, Kirase was titanic now. His strength, durability, and destructive capability all grew exponentially in this form. There was just one little thing that was gonna cripple him here...

Speed.

While Kirase was comparable- while Draga was burning millions of mana into Acceleration, at any rate- that speed was actually reduced by the transformation. Stronger physical muscles, sure, but it prevented him from using his shapeshifting magic to move any relevant distance. At his size, Kirase would also be impaired by the city itself, with the curving roads and tall buildings preventing him from sprinting.

It was for that reason, and a few more, that Draga was actually rather patient in letting Kirase acquire his form- the whole process taking almost twenty seconds. Once he became solid, he wouldn't simply burst and regenerate when hit. And holes would still fill up, but he could suffer from other kinds of injury. He was also a large target- one perfect for some of his newer Strength skills.

Among all the rest he'd gotten as it rose, he'd gotten exactly one skill when his Strength his 1000, and while he _could_ use it- unlike some of his Intelligence skills- he'd never actually properly utilized it. Now was the time for a little... Test drive.

 **Oblivion (Passive and Active) LVL4 EXP: 98.51% MP:100000, 100000 per second**

 **Oblivion isn't a place, so much as an idea: that when you perish, your consciousness ceases to exist. When a soul dies, it doesn't just stop existing, but rather ascends beyond The Veil and continues in another form when it returns. But what if they didn't do that? What if that didn't happen, though? What if, instead of only damaging the physical self, one could attack and destroy the spirit?**

 **Passively increases Strength by 100%.**

 **Actively increases Strength by 400% instead.**

 **Actively allows physical attacks to harm the soul of the target.**

 **Deaths resulting from a destroyed soul, while the body is still alive, apply [Oblivion - MAX] to the target.**

It was a skill he'd actually though could be a solution to combating Tzeentch, after he'd read about it, but that wasn't something he really wanted to test out. If it failed, or Tzeentch otherwise found a way to revive himself, he would be completely screwed.

The creatures on Disboard, though, were mortal and had their souls visible- things he could see and measure with his eyes- so he could simply avoid that last part.

Unlike his physical body, Kirase couldn't just replenish his soul endlessly. Much like Aura, Spirit Circuits were incredibly useful and could be used as a fuel for any number of things, but they did run dry and- unless one had access to the Suniaster- required rest to regenerate.

So just beat him into submission.

Draga smirked, soaring skyward towards the giant wolves head. Tachyon- ending just before contact- took care of any risk of dodging involved.

It was a slaughter from there.


	87. Will-5

**The rewrite has begun in earnest, taking place on Litnet (as mentioned in the previous chapter). This will still be my priority, since Fickle Things won't be finished for another seven chapters and I only have a few weeks left, but hey. For any of you interested, you can look it up as 'Fickle Things - Outset by The Terakali'.**

 **Just viewing it is helpful to my cause, so I appreciate anyone who does that, but I hold no expectations. Thank you anyway.**

* * *

Beating Kirase wasn't quite as easy as he'd let on. Once he'd acquired his true form, his magic potential was back in full, which gave him access to so many more tools.

Fire a lightning were as useless against Draga as in reverse, with his elemental affinities raised enough to actually heal him instead. Similarly, his attempts to use sound were thwarted by the combination of Gamer's Body and his air affinity.

Now teleporting? That shit was effective, especially when the asshole _still_ had a higher strength than him. It wasn't fair in the slightest.

Then again, Draga wasn't playing particularly fair either. With Panen allowing his stupidly high strength to rub off on his Vitality, Draga was nearly indestructible. Combined with the increased HP regen from his activated Aura- and further from Aurora- any damage he did take was quickly replenished.

If not for Oblivion, the fight could have gone on forever. Unfortunately for Kirase, he _did_ have Oblivion. It had even leveled up a number of times over the course of the fight, and... The 4 in the 400% increase was relative to its level. Now that it was level 9, it was a 900% increase while active. Absolutely busted.

The demon king- or former, now, since he lost- didn't have any obvious injuries. As always, his gigantic wolf form was immaculate, without so much as a splotch of blood on his titanic canine body. And yet, despite all of that, he now lay on the ground and heaved great sighs capable of shaking the palace.

Fortunately, they'd both been smart enough to lead the fight out towards the barren lands surrounding the city itself. As such, all his literally heavy breathing did was disturb the bedrock he lay upon.

"Game over, Kirase," Draga said as he slowly floated down to land on the giant wolf's snout. "Give me the Race Piece."

The great wolf closed its eyes and let out a huff of air, which might have actually blown Draga off if Streamline didn't negate the effects of wind. When that proved fruitless, he began to transform again, turning back into his human form. Shrinking was a lot faster than growing, leaving Kirase standing before Draga a mere nine seconds later.

Kirase smirked, getting down on one knee and holding up the artifact in question.

"All hail the Demon king, Asmodeas!" he shouted, loud enough to echo off the cave walls and, in turn, alert the entire city to the change in leadership. "Long may he reign!"

Draga shook his head at the dramatics, but did step forward to claim his prize.

That was interrupted slightly when Kirase's other hand came up, two more pieces in hand. A knight and a bishop, which kept him from telling exactly where they came from, but... Still, an extra two Race Pieces?

"You've been busy, Knave" Draga noted while continuing the joke. "Who'd you piss off this time?"

He made to laugh, but choked it down as he continued the _definitely fake_ role as a subordinate. Bastard stood up to Artosh, so there's no way in hell- or Hell- this was genuine. Still, he had something to say, and it seemed to genuinely try his patience to phrase it the way he did. "Milord, the Seiren and Dwarves both wished to take over the underground. Apparently, their newest leaders weren't aware of the rules down here and came down themselves."

 _Ah._ An honest mistake, but still a costly one. The result was good for him, so it's not like he was gonna complain.

Combined with what he'd earned previously, he now had six pieces: the Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Demons, Dhampir, and Seiren. Getting the Old Deus piece would basically earn him the Ex Machina and the same held true between Dragons and the Flugel.

Eight games to go, and he had the best collection of bargaining chips in history.

"There is much to do, and plenty to discuss. Come, peasant," Draga said as he strolled over the edge of a nearby crag. Kirase smirked, unable to keep a straight face, but followed easily enough.

"I'll be taking the title back later, you know," he said, stepping up beside him. "This was just for show."

The new Demon King looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Already considering regicide? Am I that bad a leader?" Draga chuckled silently to himself, calling an illusion over his eyes to match the slitted yellow orbs of his brother in arms. "Oh, I'll give you all a show- but that wasn't it."

Kirase snorted. "If that wasn't you trying, I am going to enjoy seeing what you can do." He raised a fist up, which Draga met with his own. "To world domination," he cheered with a smile.

Draga returned the grin easily. "To world domination," he agreed, returning his gaze to the city. He coughed once, clearing whatever dust had gotten trapped in his throat during the fight, and prepared himself.

A Fantasy pulled itself together around him, taking the form of a colossal beast. It was larger than Kirase's wolf form, much to the man's chagrin, and pointedly feline. It reared up for a moment. Tapping into White Tiger's Roar, Draga's voice thundered out as if coming from the massive construct. "Your majesty demands your assistance!"

* * *

Picking to go for the Elementals next was more of a matter of convenience. Their representative, Xersai, wasn't actually a leader. He was just the objectively least defeatable one, and thus entrusted with the Race Piece and made to safeguard it.

Since they never needed to play a game, they would only ever be challenged, which gave them an advantage. If they would lose in a fight, which they could objectively verify, then they would simply decline. If they would win, they would, and be done with it.

There was no record of them ever playing a game that wasn't a fight, and it was only Jibril's absolutely absurd power- having been personally created by the War God at his absolute strongest point- that let them get around the hurdle the first time.

Even then, Xersai had been hesitant.

After everything that happened, it would be natural that he'd be _more_ hesitant in the future. But a human? Bah, a human isn't a threat. Not at all, even when they're offering a Race Piece to you. After all, he literally doesn't have any Spirits, and thus no magic.

Why, it would be a waste not to accept, wouldn't it?

Thing is, battling an Elemental wasn't quite as simple as battling Kirase. While powerful, Kirase still had a physical form that could take meaningful damage. In addition, his soul wasn't intrinsically tied to nearly all life, making killing him a suicide attempt. Sure, Draga wasn't tied to Xersai personally, but the water elemental had her influence across every ocean. Every Seiren and almost all other physical creatures would be hurt if Xersai had his soul damaged, let alone destroyed.

Can't hurt the soul and can't hurt the physical. What do you do, then?

Find a third option.

Ordinarily, he'd have gone with some kind of imprisonment, but that... That wasn't really going to work well here. Any other Elemental, sure, but Xersai was more than just powerful. While it _had_ a form, it could always just leave.

Still, he had a plan and a backup. He had a third, actually, but he'd prefer to keep it a secret for when he had to contest the Old Deus.

When Xersai fully rose up from the ocean, his body was provably independent from the waters beneath it. Ignoring the slight color difference, he was a magic construct. That was visible, at least to his eyes, and wasn't spread out evenly. he had a vague shape, one that was bigger than his aquatic form, but still a _being_ and not an _ocean._

Draga's gaze moved up the massive construct, his expression artificially changed to shock and fear. He felt neither, and likely wouldn't have the first time. He wouldn't know, having never actually met Xersai during the initial conquering of Disboard.

"You have summoned me," he said...? He had no mouth, or any facial features at all for that matter. Xersai's entire body was just a pair of legs and arms connected at something only loosely resembling a chest. "Why?"

Straight to the point, as expected. Even Dragons got like that sometimes, having little time or care for such things, and he could respect it.

"I have a little trinket to offer you," he shouted up at him as he raised the Elven Race Piece. "A game, this one for yours."

There was a pause, and one he'd expected. Anything more than a dozen feet or so in size would have delayed though and action, which only grew worse as the scale increased. For something more than sixty feet tall and with small bits of itself spread across the globe? Waiting a few seconds was short.

"We accept."

 _We?_ Draga didn't question it, and his curiosity quickly subsided. If it was important, it would be detailed in the rules of the game it would have to explain. While not an official part of the pledges, it was still required in the stakes setting portion of it.

Regardless, it was great that it accepted. The same trick might not work on the Phantasma or Old Deus, but Elementals weren't really thinking agents. They were more closely related to forces of nature, literally in some cases, and were thereby simplistic.

"We shall have a contest of strength. He who can lift the most water shall win. We will each have as many tries as necessary."

 _Gee, how fair..._

In terms of raw strength, Draga would 100% have the advantage. He might not be able to lift an entire sea, but Xersai wouldn't be able to do that either, which would make the playing field as least even. It would, if he could actually just grab a lake and lift it. He rarely had to curse fluid dynamics, but screw it, Xersai was effectively in charge of them here anyway.

Fuck fluid dynamics.

With that covered, Draga returned to the matter at hand, nodding to the Elemental.

Xersai went first, like any gentleman would in a game like this. His 'hand' rose up, as though it was even slightly related to his powers, and he willed a distant lake into the air. Lake Lilliana, named after one of the old Seiren Queens if he recalled correctly. It was a memory from before The Game, so it was subject to human error.

Still, as impressive as that was, he could match that. Before Xersai let it fall, Draga called upon a power he'd acquired just for this purpose. Sure, it wasn't lifting, but... Who cares, right?

 **Stasis (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:2500000**

 **Just as time can 'stop' through acceleration, so too can it be stopped by being slowed. All it takes is a little effort, and the power to override the rules of reality- because that's easy to come by- and one can prevent almost anything from coming to pass.**

 **Ensnares** **any volume of timespace for 1 'second'.**

 **Entities immune to the effects of time disruption are brought to instant time resumes instead.**

 **Entities immune to the temporal dimension are unaffected.**

It was new, but oh so useful. It was like Tachyon, except better, since it allowed him to effectively choose other things to bring with him _and_ use Acceleration at the same time. For a similar price, too, which made it all the better.

Granted, he had to be able to perceive something to stop it, so he couldn't just stop the entire bloody planet from doing things, but it was certainly a step up, especially when he'd only intended to get the power to slow down time. He had that too, but it was indisputably weaker than this.

Despite Xersai's attempts to bring the lake back to Disboard, it remained floating, and was actually joined by a stream of water rising up from the Eleden Sea. Mixing the water would be problematic, since the lake was freshwater and the sea was salt water, but it took only a slight effort on his part to expand the effective radius of Stasis and keep them apart.

In this way, even if he couldn't life all the water at once, he _could_ lift _all the water._

"Your move," Draga taunted, while the river of water continued to rise through Sungai. Only Artosh could realistically compete with this in the long term... Just a miscalculation, really. If it had been a fight, Draga could realistically have lost somehow, but his particular skillset was just perfect for this.

Xersai actually tried to spite him, willing the water to move down. It didn't work, obviously, but he could see the effort put into place through the spirit circuits trailing up through the air. The fact that he failed only seemed to annoy the great being.

Fighting a chronomancer was a bitch, wasn't it?

While those last two conditions negated its use against Tzeentch or Tet, among a few other extradimensional gods that _had_ to exist, it should theoretically win him any other fight. Including this one, obviously.

"I'll be taking your piece now." And he hadn't even needed the second plan.

* * *

His arrival back in Pandemonium was apparently quicker than anticipated, if the incomplete preparations were anything to go by. Draga had no need for the dramatics, and hadn't been planning a parade or anything, but he had given them instructions before he'd left.

No use just standing around, though, so the new Demon King traipsed on into his new palace with an easy smile on his face. A few of his subjects made note of his presence, signs of both support and dissent passing through the ranks as he was basically forced to listen in with Extrasensory Perception. He didn't comment or react to it, though. While he was gonna have fun fighting Kirase again when all was said and done, he didn't intend to actually rule for more than a few days anyway. Why bother dealing with their politics?

Speaking of Kirase, though, he was busy reprimanding someone for some kind of failure. Even with his senses, he'd come in too late to hear what it was about, but he had a few guesses.

"Royal Adviser," Draga greeted as he walked down the center of the room to the throne. Kirase was beside it, as was befitting of his newest position in the bureaucracy of Hell. "There's a problem- what is it?"

"Draga," he returned, looking between him and the underling he had been dealing with as if deciding who was a more pressing concern. Wisely, he chose to deal with the closest thing to a god he would ever have to serve and sent the other one away with a warning. "It was actually a problem before you got here, but one that your tasks have only exasperated."

An eyebrow went up in a silent question.

"Being underground is great and all, but the spirit circuits aren't. They only flowed through the ground while the Suniaster was in place, and while we have access to the spirits leaking down from the oceans or volcanoes, there just isn't enough to fuel an army."

Draga snorted, pulling one hand back and tossing his newest prize over. Kirase stared at it for a moment, which made sense. There were eight pawns, so there wasn't any way he could know which it was. As a little visual cue, Draga held up one hand and brought to life a small fireball.

Kirase frowned, looking at it for a moment. Each of the elements was already related to a race; fire was for Demons, water for Seirens, earth for Dwarves, and air for Flugels. Admittedly, the Flugels used more than their fair share of fire anyway, but the point still stood. The gears still turned, even if slowly, and he soon made a realization. Why would he show the Demon's associated element if it wasn't their Race Piece?

Elements.

Elementals.

"How did y-"

Draga raised one hand, silencing him instantly. "I made a milk run."

"Right..." Kirase gave him a skeptical look, but when nothing more was forthcoming, he eventually let the point go. "Thanks for the milk, I guess. You're gonna need to give us another hour or so- you weren't even gone half the time you said you would be. We haven't even gathered everyone here yet."

He was dismissed with a wave, left to go about organizing it, and Draga took his place upon the thrown to wait. With nothing else to do, he continued to scheme. Nine pieces to go, and had complete plans for another five- counting the fact that Flugels and Ex Machina would come naturally with two others.

There wasn't even the slightest bit of fairness in his plans for the Dragons. They weren't going to work with him, and hadn't liked anyone in Exceed the first time around either, so trying to get them into a game was going to be literally impossible. He couldn't even force the issue, because of the ten pledges. He couldn't.

 _He_ couldn't.

They were for later, though. The Demons were an immediate concern, as he needed to move on the Phantasma before knowledge of what he'd done to Xersai reached their representative. Others could know, and that'd be fine, but they'd likely decline any game with him if they knew he could manipulate time.

The army was rather literal, though. While he couldn't just storm the gates, and they would probably lose- even as a whole- against their representative, they served an important role in the fight ahead. He'd bragged about his power being enough to take down a Phantasma before, but he'd specified at the time what size it could be. They weren't to act as a fighting force, but rather a group able to create a single attack.

With the collective power of all the Elementals acting as a sort of planet sized battery, it would hopefully be enough. On the off chance it wasn't...

He didn't want to dwell on it.

The power of the Phantasma, in turn, could collectively overpower any of the Old Deus. They'd know that, of course, and wouldn't allow for a fight. Smart on their part, but he knew that as well as they would, and clearly wouldn't be planning for it. He had a different idea in mind- something which would still require their strength, but powering him instead.

Four pieces would be left then, which would hopefully fall in line after the display he'd pull there and against the Dragons afterward. If they didn't... It was better not to think about it.

Draga looked up just as Kirase arrived with the good news, mostly because he was already aware of everything that had happened. Even using several stacks of Deceleration on himself to make his wait go by quicker wasn't enough to stop him from having a vague idea of what was happening outside.

"We're ready."

 _Ah, good. Then we can begin._

* * *

 **My apologies for the lateness. This chapter was actually completed yesterday, but I got dragged into some crap at home, ranging from a surprise online quiz to rebuilding the living room.**

 **On that note, I got to come back! The repairmen haven't retextured or painted the ceiling yet, but the asbestos is all gone and we were able to move the furniture back in place. Whoo!**

 **Still at least slightly annoyed that half my family got stay at a hotel, though. Where was my hot tub, mom?**

 **Heh. It's good to be back. See you all soon.**


	88. Will-6

**The next chapter is going to be rather slow in the making. I have until December 9th to make up work in my economics class, and... I am missing a lot more than I thought I was. Fortunately, Ms Hu is a amazing, so I'm not really at any risk of failing if I got on that shit.**

 **Will-8 is already underway, however, so that should get the story back on track following this delay.**

 **Thank you all for your patience.**

* * *

"You wish to fight me, child?"

Draga fell into Tachyon, unwilling to let the annoyed sigh he gave out show to the Phantasma. He was well into adulthood, and while Tengoku was indisputably older by thousands of years, being called that was demeaning. While he doubted the literal planet he was communicating would care either way, Kirase was also stood beside him and would try and tease him over it despite the fact that- thanks to his jaunt in Acceleration- he was actually older than him.

Better to waste a little mana than deal with that.

Still, it was strange to hear that at all. It was similar to how Chara communicated, as thoughts that were obviously foreign simply existing in your head, but it felt just wrong. Tengoku was the size of a planet, though clearly wasn't yanking around Disboard with the gravity of one, but volume didn't exist within thoughts. Even as powerful as Draga was, he couldn't shout louder within his own head, and the same was true for the Phantasma.

"That's not quite it," Draga communicated when time resumed. It wasn't speech, since the Phantasma and Old Deus were both incapable of hearing in the traditional sense, but rather a form of telepathy. Not on his end, though he could definitely get a skill for it, but more like intentionally opening himself up to having his thoughts read.

That would come to a close when the battle started, but he still needed to talk.

"I come with an army, Tengoku. I am not here for a straight fight, but rather a war."

It mulled over that for a second, which was shown physically with the monstrous ball of magic shifting in on itself a few times. It was definitely malleable, which would make their job a lot harder, but it shouldn't do more than lengthen the fight.

Assuming all goes to plan, anyway.

"Very well. You and the Demons, correct?"

Draga rolled his eyes. He was literally standing on Kirase's direwolf form from the top of a mountain, while almost the entire rest of the species was at the base making preparations. No shit, he was working with the Demons. However, that wasn't the purpose of the question- he was making it a rule of the game that he couldn't use any of the other races against him.

"The Demons and I will be the only ones to attack you. You have Tet's word."

A great rumbling sound echoed from the great being, only audible because Extrasensory Perception let him hear anything he could see. It cracked apart, the planet sized mass of energy choosing to splits its power for the fight.

 _Shame I can't just hit it now..._

Like any smart person, or heavenly being in this case, it was making its preparations before the game began. Each of the tiniest slivers of its true strength took the form of a creature- though never anything specific. They were roughly the same size, however, which let him get an idea how many he'd be battling.

Basing the scale off of creatures he knew, they would have a weight of about a ton. They didn't here, since Phantasma hadn't been affected by gravity since time immemorial, but that let him get an approximation.

The weight of a planet in kilograms, divided by a thousand, and he was given an estimate of six sextillion enemies.

All of which were higher level than every Demon in his army. While he obviously couldn't check all of them, or even _see_ all of them, he did scan the nameplates of quite a few Tengoku Shards, as they were called. The weakest he saw was still over level one hundred.

A much greater number of them were outside his range entirely, which didn't actually mean too much with how exponential his skills were, but meant they would easily be a match for the Demons.

"Aschente," Draga thought as he watched the Shards draw up weapons.

The sentiment was mirrored by them in return- an overwhelming thought as more beings than existed on all of Disboard communicated in unison. It passed in an instant, but that momentary distraction was enough for them to charge in.

Sorry, did I say charge in? That would imply they weren't in outer space and still what looked like a whole minue from melee range.

Draga watched them for a few seconds before turning to Kirase. "Everyone in position?" He nodded. "Perfect." The Demon King looked back up towards the sky- actually needing his eyes for this. Clairvoyance had a relatively narrow focus, since it let him perceive things as if he were next to them, but he needed a broad view of the oncoming army.

He couldn't stop all of them with Stasis if he tried. Their sheer mass, combined with his inability to see through more than a few of them, meant he'd maybe get into the quadrillions. Given the current army size, that wouldn't have mattered. Instead of that, Draga put his attention on the edges of the massive army. Just beyond them, time froze suddenly- not that they could have noticed, with nothing of note inside. The effect trailed all the way back through space, until reaching the atmosphere, where it suddenly curved inwards to form a bowl.

Any of the shards that touched the wall would be frozen in time, unable to break through. While they could theoretically double back, they hardly needed that long to engage their own plan. The net would suffice.

Draga was unable to look away from the sky, but Clairvoyance let him see when a vibrant circle- carved into the ground around the mountain- began to glow a fine crimson hue. The rune, because what else was it gonna be, was being powered exclusively by the demon army below him.

The fact that the power they had was given to them by the Elementals before the battle began was immaterial, as was the fact that the rune design was partially stolen by the Elves. Only partially, since their spells were generally a lot less destructive than they were looking for.

Fortunately, a few books from Abyss on magic circuitry and a few minutes of him carving it in with his earth manipulation...

"Just say the word," Kirase said from beside him. He was smiling, though it his fangs were showing too much for it to be the friendly kind of grin. It was vicious and hungry- like Draga's own would be if the emotions hadn't been quelled a while ago.

Still, there was no denying his satisfaction as the gigantic rune became brighter and brighter. It never became blinding, but it wasn't supposed to be- it wasn't the attack, after all. If it had been, the Demons could have done the whole thing themselves and he could have left the Elves alone.

Power didn't surge through him so much as it surged through everything. While all Elementals were weaker than a Phantasma, the species as a whole was strong. As strong as Disboard, actually, since they collectively made up the whole thing.

"Fire!" Kirase shouted, though the sound of the command was dwarfed by the sheer volume of the attack as it began. An entire race of magic casters with all the magic of an entire world at their fingertips. Fire was also an appropriate term, as the beam that shot from Kirase's mouth- along with the rest of his people's- burned white hot.

Seventeen million flames converged on a single point above Draga's head, at a point directly above the center of the rune. By this point, Tengoku had definitely noticed, and seemed to be preparing some kind of flame proof barrier at the front of its army.

Silly fool- he wasn't going to shoot it. That would be a waste.

Draga floated up towards it, using his control over flames to keep the writhing conflagration in place, all the while it was still being fed. If he'd seen this ahead of time, Tengoku would probably have declined the fight, but that was his problem. Draga's was actually more complicated; how exactly did he want to blow them to smithereens? Unlike the Elementals, Tengoku had no link to any of the living creatures, which made his death more of an option.

And yes, he was assuming the living planets gender. Get over it.

The rune finally dimmed a moment later, having exhausted the supply of energy the Elementals could offer. Anything more would cause irreparable damage to the planet and life on it, so... He'd have to settle for _most_ of their power.

It was certainly enough to defeat the purposes of color. If not for him artificially keeping the sphere together- and actually shrinking it, while he was at it- the damn thing would have cooked the entire army seconds after they started.

Such a thing wasn't conducting fusion, so it couldn't be called a star, but that comparison was meaningless anyway. The ball was _hotter_ than any star.

"A shame I can't just blow them up, eh?" Draga nudged Kirase with his elbow. "Give them a sporting chance- what a terrible plan." Being a terrible idea on principle didn't make it stop being necessary, though, so he let that pass without comment. Instead, he withdrew a skill he'd used to break the game once before.

 **Scales (Active) LVLMAX MP:0**

The ability to convert HP into MP, combined with his ability to heal from fire damage and his ridiculously high Vitality created by merging his Strength with it. The ball of energy was a giant mana battery.

But what to cast, then? He needed a war, and there simply weren't enough Demons to match up, so it was time to work around that. And hey, thanks to Schwarz, the Grimm were actually a part of him- he was just bending the rules a little, instead of breaking them.

 **[LVL120]**

 **Surga, The Blackened Sky**

When activated the skill, black goo leaked from across his body- some melting away within the flames, but most falling out to the ground. About a gallon of liquid hit the mountain, but despite the impossibility of it, it spread out across the surface to encompass the entire rocky construct. Then, in a monstrously powerful motion, it contracted inwards and consumed it.

What remained was a spawn as powerful as he last remembered it- something he'd created so long ago. It unfurled its wings, the air pressure of that alone enough to obliterate the no longer active rune.

That first Grimm drained 30,000,000,000 HP and his MP total just by itself, but also reawakened a title long left behind; The Grim God replaced the words above his head, cheapening the effect for all of his future war machines. The cost, in turn, was almost instantly replenished as he pulled the orb down over himself.

 **[LVL155]**

 **Tenebris**

While Surga, the several hundred foot wide raven, had to actually be created, the same was not true of Tenebris. Or, rather, any of them, for Draga had no reason to stop at just one. They didn't have a title, either, because they weren't unique.

Black dots appeared in the sky at seemingly random locations, spawned as soon as he'd replenished in energy from the last. Drawing its mass from the immaterium- or Aether, as it was more commonly known- they built up gradually. He'd actually seen the process before, in how Gilgamesh regenerated himself, but his eyes were hardly what they were now.

The soulless beasts weren't composed of matter in the traditional sense. Elementary particles could just appear on their own, and do so all the time everywhere, but they also create an anti-particle at the same time. Not anti-matter, since that still has positive mass, but rather an opposite in every possible way.

Ordinarily, they'd collapse into one another and cease to exist. This... This was different. It was as if the Nothing that was created was its own particle.

Creation from Nothing- the power of a God. The title didn't disappoint.

The Tenebris were still definitely bird like, but no longer had anything resembling feathers. There was texture, which simulated the appearance of them, but their entire bodies were solid matter. They didn't even have stomachs, like the Nevermore normally did, but rather just cut off halfway down the esophagus.

An interesting thing to look at, for sure, but a lot less so than their sheer size. Growth for Nevermore was clearly exponential based on levels, and while Surga was the size of a small mountain, each Tenebris was practically a smaller Phantasma unto themselves.

Whatever energy he could obtain from the orb quickly exhausted itself in this way, but that hardly meant his job was over. While thirteen Tenebris and Surga took to the skies- doing the impossible yet again by literally flying out of the atmosphere with wings- one of them stayed behind and allowed him to rest on its head.

This one, who he called Tua for the sake of expedience, was fed more. His MP and HP regen couldn't quite match up to abusing his affinity, but it was still fast, and allowed him to increase its level and size even further.

In the meantime, all Hell broke loose. Literally, in this case, as the front end of the Stasis net was removed and any flying Demons charged alongside the Grimm to do battle with Tengoku's shards.

Of course, Draga couldn't just stay out of that entirely. His Aura came alive around him, bringing with it the multiple colors of the various entities he'd absorbed. Among them, Akumu bulged out from his chest, the amorphous mouth visibly hungering for its next meal.

Fortunately- for it, anyway- Phantasma were practically made of his food. Lacking an actual body to be affected by gravity, it blasted upwards and into the battle as well.

 _What else do I have?_

He wasn't going to throw the Elves into the mix- since none of them could easily fly and they wouldn't accomplish much, and he couldn't risk the Elementals perishing at all. The same fell to all the other races he'd already conquered...

Looking back, he really should have done the Dragons first. It might have let Tengoku learn about Stasis, but he only really needed to call upon a favor. Their combat abilities would have been pretty useful here.

 _I feel like I'm forgetting someone..._

Someone from before The Game, certainly, or else he wouldn't be having any problem. That only left a few, since he'd...

Flying. Wings. Flugel.

Langit.

 _She is going to be so mad with me..._ Not for forgetting her, since she'd been the one to dump him, but rather for not inviting her to the battle. Much like Jibril, she thrived on war, and was arguably more of a sadist than the now deceased legend. Sora would be the only one who could really make the comparison, though, so... Eh.

It was too late to bring her in, too. While he could use the Grimm and Akumu, since they were permanent features of his soul, the same was not true of her.

That rule actually rather restrictive... If he was able to draw on anyone, he could head back to The Enchanted Cave and recruit Caelem to just take them on in his stead. Hell, he'd probably thank him for the experience and wellspring of magic.

 _Better get in there, then._

 **[LVL?]**

 **Tua, The Black Sky**

What could no longer be called a bird beat its wings once- just once- to carry them up into the sky. There were no winds from the movement of its wings, as though that could have actually lifted something so massive in the first place, but there was no denying the force it released when it howled up into the sky.

Draga joined in as well, shooting off of his perch atop its head as he Roared up at the army. It wasn't for intimidation- if Phantasma were even capable of feeling that way- but rather to rally the Demons he'd already soared past on his way up.

Magic wings sprung out from his shoulders, cast to look like the blackened feathers of his creations, and he engaged the first shard to get in his way: a white Warbeast looking creature which charged him down. It seemed to be modeled after the more animalistic of them, specifically a rhino, with the only obviously defining Warbeast element being the outfit. Still, it gunned him down and crashed its horn into Draga's chest.

It looked pretty ridiculous, considering there wasn't any ground for its running legs to actually speed off of, but it became all the more enjoyable when it stopped existing entirely.

Sorry, I feel I should be more descriptive than that. Despite its size, it had the effective durability of tissue paper when compared against tens of millions of strength, compiled against his speed.

If nothing else, the shard could feel proud that it was an adequate platform, and nothing can ever take that away from it.

* * *

"That feels like enough," Draga said to no one in particular. There wasn't even an atmosphere for his voice to travel through anyway, so his words served mostly as a reminder to himself to stop killing things.

By this point, they'd only _just_ gotten into the quadrillions of kills. However, the plan didn't actually need them to kill all of them in the first place- just engage in enough fighting for the next step to work. The last few hours had combat in spades.

It was time to wrap things up.

 _Come._

A simple instruction for simple creatures. No matter how strong, the fourteen Grimm he'd summoned simply didn't have enough time to gain a true mind of their own. As war machines, they'd served their purpose, and would soon gain another far-better one.

For him, anyway. They wouldn't be enjoying it.

 **Consume (Active) LVL19 EXP: 44.51% MP:0**

He couldn't _eat_ them. Even if he wanted to, their sheer size made that an untenable proposition, even if The Game gave him an endless appetite- something he'd never bothered to test. Fortunately, Consume was willing to... Accommodate a few other of his abilities- including one particular pink blob which had also returned to his side.

 _Feast._

Akumu was all too accommodating of its instructions, and with his mana supply, expanded to such a size as to envelope Surga entirely. The increase in power it gained from that, in turn, let it devour the Tenebris before moving to finally Consume Tua.

Perhaps he should feel some remorse for the soulless creatures, but he didn't. There were but fledglings serving a greater purpose.

"Tengoku, I must surrender the battle."

There was no surprise from the information. Perhaps the Phantasma thought he was exhausted- like the Demons were- and the Grimm merely temporary. They were, of course, but not in the sense that it must have thought.

"Then I win," it said simply, "And the Race Pieces you've collected belong to me."

"Indeed."

Draga took them out, but paused before tossing them to the nearest Shard. Why? Akumu returned, suffusing itself with his being. Consume didn't grant levels- and Akumu hadn't done so either- but they did grant something else. Power, whether through literal stats or just MP and HP increases.

Akumu brought something else with it, though- fragments of the absorbed souls. The Grimm had none, so he clearly wasn't talking about them. Instead, he'd become one with the Phantasma, in the most literal sense.

And then ignored the mental ramifications entirely thanks to Gamer's Mind.

Still, it made the whole rest of the admittedly brief conversation just so... So satisfying.

"Oh my..." Draga's soul lit up around him, with the translucent white of his normal Aura contrasted against the opaque nature of the Phantasma. "It would appear that I'm one of you now." The Demon King turned to glare at the closest Shard. "And how is the Race Piece given among the Phantasma?"

Despite the fact that none of the Shards actually had need or function for eyes, they did have shapes where they would be. They weren't very expressive, though, which made it hard to judge his initial reaction. His silence was telling, at least, and Draga deigned to spare him from answering.

"The strongest gets the piece, isn't that right?"

Tengoku didn't answer, again.

Taking out a planet takes a lot of energy... In the case of Earth, that had been 2.24×10^32 joules. Disboard is a tad smaller and less dense overall, but the estimate was in the ballpark. Now compare that to a punch, which for a decently trained boxer is around 700-1000 joules.

29 zeroes is a lot to account for, but they go down fast with his skills. Six- or seven, now, after Consuming the Grimm- could be taken away right off the bat just off of having tens of millions of Strength. Kinetic energy is also calculated based on speed, so those get torn down pretty fast too with an additional nineteen dropping off that. Add in Tremor, Quake, White Tiger's Lunge, and all the other instance based skills he had and his fists could hit with more than planet level attack potency.

That's not exactly the same thing as punching a planet apart, but close enough. When compared to someone with a _max_ potential of planet busting? There wasn't anything stopping him from just getting more skills if he wanted to, or dump some crazy amount of mana into Aurora and Acceleration to bump his strikes even higher. The Game was honestly ridiculous.

He didn't even need Tengoku to agree that he was more powerful of a Phantasma at this point, just as the same would be true if he could become an Old Deus. That wasn't possible, unfortunately, but the decrees they set about were enforced by Tet- not the Phantasma or Gods themselves.

"As the owner of the Phantasma Race Piece, I demand you give the others back to me."

 _Stage two complete._

* * *

 **Some dude I was arguing with on the internet- I know, a _very_ good use of my time- genuinely thought that Lucifer was responsible for all evil. As in, every lie ever spoken and every ounce of pain ever felt.**

 **I honestly had to ask if he's ever _read_ the bible. You should not have to do that when arguing with someone who claims to believe every word of it.**

 **Ugh... My faith in humanity is undeserved.**


	89. Will-7

**So, I fucked up. It's an extremely subtle fuckup, and one with no lasting consequences, but I did.**

 **I created a character- Artosh- as an ocean deity a long time ago. He was part of the first backstory I'd given Draga, and also part of both rewrites I've attempted. I realized around the time I was writing Will-2 that this was a mistake- but not in the way one might think.**

 **Artosh already existed within No Game No Life, as the God of War; he was a God already central to the story and one that I couldn't exactly remove from the plot by that point.**

 **It was too late to fix it, if I even wanted to do so, which left me in an unfortunate position. To compensate, I had to break NGNL lore- something I've avoided thus far, as I didn't want to to actually be an AU- and create a new character.**

 **Obviously, the character hasn't yet been introduced, but will be in this chapter. I wanted to frontload this message before the chapter to lay out the facts beforehand. This is a mistake on my part, and not an attempt to confuse anyone who actually knows the lore of the series.**

 **Nonetheless, I must go through with it, and introduce you all to Streit, the new War God. This name will only feature in this version of the story, and the rewrite on Litnet does not actually necessitate that I cling to NGNL and its mythos, so he will cease to exist when this story gets taken down.**

 **My apologies, and have a good day.**

* * *

The Old Deus were well known for dragging their feet- metaphorically, obviously, since none of them actually had bodies in the traditional sense. Artosh was among the few exceptions, but he wasn't the representative anymore.

Streit was the youngest of the Old Deus, though still being older than Tet, and originally had the lesser strength to match. The constant fighting between the many races eventually beat that, making Streit the inarguably most powerful god of that time- able to produce Flugels on par with the Phantasma, as he had with Jibril.

That all came to an end with his little brother and his game. While conflict still existed, he faded into the background, becoming weaker over time. He became the weakest again, by any means, but his glory days had passed.

And then Draga had up and slaughtered several quadrillion 'living things'.

Despite the fact that Phantasma had perished in the past, they'd always done so as one entity. Exactly one battle had even been capable of destruction on par with that, but Sora's predecessor intervened to prevent most of the bloodshed.

Even standing hundreds of miles away, Draga could feel the power radiating from his avatar. It was an accident, born from how unused he was to the sheer strength now afforded to him, and only exasperated by Draga's sensory skills- and Mana Tapping, which let him sense these things directly.

 _Nice to know plans can go along swimmingly._

Unlike the Phantasma, it would never have been possible to defeat any of the Old Deus in a traditional fight. They were intangible, which meant the vast majority of his skills would be effectively useless, and were immutable for so long as their basis of power continues to exist. Artosh will die when the sun eventually consumes the ocean, just as the god of the sun will vanish when the gigantic bomb finally goes off.

Until such a time, they can't even really lose at anything. Artosh's raw power would be enough to wipe out every race beneath the Elementals in minutes, and they hardly needed to rely on brute strength anyway.

He was banking on that.

 _"STREIT!"_

His shout echoed unnaturally across the land, practically forcing the being in question to hear him. Some might call that unnecessary, but those people would be wrong, because even that didn't actually get the old god to appear before him. Still, he might as well start with the more mundane approach.

Draga took a breath, allowing Call Of The Storm to take hold. A ripple of energy flowed through him, with lightning visibly coursing over his body without his input. The 100% discount- because why not, right?- Call provided only applied to skills, which meant he couldn't just do whatever with the lightning it created, but he didn't need to direct it himself. Nature was kind enough to give him exactly what he needed, so long as he simply gave it the power.

With his immunity to lightning and fire- and presumably explosions- he didn't really need to worry about the kickback on this either.

One hand thrust itself towards the heavens, Pale Lightning up into the sky behind it. The white streak was followed closely by a few billion others, which didn't so much travel through the atmosphere as melt the air.

Heat washed over him uselessly, though still did considerable damage to the ground beneath him, and only grew as physics had time to catch up with what he did. By that time, the Lightning had already moved on, reaching up into the ionosphere.

As the most conductive part of the atmosphere, the electricity didn't even attempt to keep moving forward. Instead, it spread out in all directions reaching across the sky in a dazzling show of natures wrath.

While lines spread across the sky for miles, both showing itself to those far outside his ability to see while also forming a beacon to the now charred mountaintop upon which he stood.

A few nearby dragons seemed miffed at the display of force, but it wasn't for them. It was for...

 **"You called for me."**

 _Ah._ Draga spun on a dime, coming face to face with his next target. Streit wasn't alone, which actually did come as a surprise, but they were still all gods.

 **[LVL?]**

 **Streit, The God Of War**

 **[LVL?]**

 **Blitz, The God Of Thunder**

 **[LVL?]**

 **Artosh, The God of Oceans**

 _No lightning god? Huh..._ He didn't actually know all the gods, so perhaps Blitz actually covered for both. Either that or the avatar was somehow far enough away not to notice many years worth of lightning strikes all going off at once. Somehow, that felt unlikely.

Their ability to teleport also negated distance, which was nice.

Artosh was exactly as Draga remembered, which made sense given his ability to choose his form more completely than Kirase ever could. He took the form of an extremely muscled figure, with long brown hair and a beard that put most men to shame. He was also dressed in a way that exuded confidence- that is to say, he wore only shorts and a pair of golden bracers, while visibly soaked. For appearances, he also tightly gripped a trident in one hand, not that he'd ever need it.

The other two were about as far removed from him as possible.

Blitz didn't even look stable, with his avatar shimmering in the midmorning light. That would ordinarily have been fine, except his darker clothing and skin should have been absorbing it. He didn't seem to mind, as his expression remained completely blank even as Draga scanned him to the non-existent molecule.

That was actually an annoying part of their powers- at least for him. While they replicated the appearance of people outwardly, they weren't actual bodies. Their ability to interact with the outside world was more a projection of telekinetic power than any real presence. That was why they could just be anywhere they wanted whenever, too, as the avatars were mere projections of their being.

If no other praise could be given to him, Tet at least went all the way. He actually had cells and- presumably, since he'd never actually seen him with the most recent version of his eyes- molecules as well. It made him easier to look at, despite the frankly schizophrenic design of his avatar.

Streit didn't have molecules or cells, but he was at least more than an attractive face. Effort was put into framing him not as a body builder but a warrior, with a more lean musculature overall. He also had actually practical armor on, though he couldn't recognize the style. From another reality, perhaps? It was old, at least wherever it was from, as it didn't seem to have any mechanical pieces.

From the color... Bronze? He couldn't confirm, with just appearances, and he couldn't exactly compare the composition of non-existent materials.

Still, it was cool, along with the far more practical spear and kite shield. The helmet, too, would have actually been useful if he could even be harmed, but it still gave him use now: intimidation. It framed his bright yellow eyes in shadow, giving them a piercing effect that would be absent otherwise.

The strange thing from all of them, though, was how remarkably human they were. Even after beating Tet, humans were definitely the weakest race overall, so it seemed odd for more than a few to choose them for their avatars... They weren't even limited to things that existed, either. Ramshir taking the form of a Quetzalcoatl was proof of that. Sora had said it was a fictional character _from their world._

Clearly didn't exist here.

It wasn't his place to question, nor did he find it worthwhile to. They, in turn, didn't deign to ask how a human was capable of any of his earlier displays.

Instead, two of them looked on flatly as Draga and Artosh shared polite nods and a gesture of respect- the raising of the right fist up, a symbol of independence and rebellion- before opening the palm up to wave.

And then Draga moved onto business.

"Streit- I'd like to play a game with you."

If the Old Deus had ever cared for appearances, perhaps it would of rolled its eyes at that. Now, it just narrowed them in blatant suspicion. "I can already tell you have a plan." True, though a little odd for him to bring it up. "Pray tell, what game are you hoping to play with me?"

"A fight to the death or surrender, obviously."

Even though that was how he'd dealt with four of the earlier races, Streit still seemed surprise by the answer. More suspicious, too, and his eyes narrowed further as he tried to discern Draga's intentions. When that didn't work, he glared instead. "I cannot die and have no reason to surrender."

"Then what do you have to worry about?" Draga returned, smiling coyly. "Even I can't damage an Old Deus."

It was the truth, and Streit definitely took notice of that. Of course, he noticed the confident edge to the interaction as well, which kept him from agreeing to anything.

"What rules will be in place?" he asked instead.

"Rules?" Draga summoned a sign through Fantasy, containing all of them, but read it aloud for Artosh and Blitz' benefit. "Neither combatant can draw upon the aid or power of anyone or anything else, outside of the Old Deus' natural subsistence on the existence of their domain. Neither combatant is allowed to leave the realm or otherwise become inaccessible to the other and neither can- outside of death- prevent their opponent from surrendering. In addition, neither can draw upon tools or other items not currently in their possession."

Most of the rules were completely superfluous, just things designed to make it look like he was worried about his safety. Considering that- even with time to adjust- Streit was _still_ oozing magic energy, that wouldn't even be seen as odd. He only needed the first line.

"Oh- and one last thing," Draga interrupted before he could answer. "We'll be conducting the battle out in space. I'd rather not cause massive collateral damage."

He didn't seemed concerned about that last one, which made sense. He didn't even get weaker from being far from his Domain, and _Draga_ would be the weaker one out there. While Electrical Silhouette should still be functional, all of his other lightning abilities and _all_ of his fire abilities would do literally nothing.

Not that those would matter in a fight against Streit, but the old god might not have realized he knew about that. After all, he challenged an immortal being to a fight to the death. Clearly not all there.

"This sounds agreeable," he grunted, his weapons vanishing an instant before he did- the old god appearing somewhere in the sky. If not for the beacon of light that came down a few seconds later, signalling where he was, it would have been a hassle.

 _Off I go, to commit deicide._

* * *

In spite of his thoughts, Draga had no intention of actually killing Streit. He could, which was still something to smile about when thinking about their immortality, but it wouldn't be a good thing for anyone. Conflict was necessary, and while a new god could be created in time, there would be a period of stagnation which he would be drawn into as well.

His plans required conflict- both in the sense that he needed Streit to be his opponent and that he had to battle Tet in the end.

None of that made it any less real how much a threat Streit was going to be in the first instant of their fight. He needed a brief amount of time, and Tet had already proven _passively_ resistant to the effects of Tachyon. It would be perfectly reasonable for Streit to be too, and Stasis by exception.

He had a lot of HP now, but it would basically take one moment on either side to end the fight instantly.

Gamer's Mind drained the tension away, allowing him to stand before Streit with a confident smirk as he withdrew a sword he was never going to use. Pointedly, Draga didn't say Aschente first, and instead waited for the old god to say it.

Which he did.

MP gathered in the forefront of his mind, prepared to cast the instant he finished his words. Old Deus could teleport, but they still had to _think_ to do things. It was time to see whose reactions were better.

"Aschen-" the skill prepared was prepared, though inactive. "-te."

Draga warped to the side- his ring dragging him, hopefully, out of the way of any attacks. At the same time, an absurd amount of mana shot out into the air- perfectly replicating the empty space within an illusion barrier.

And in that time, Streit did... Nothing.

He looked defensive, as if watching to see what happened to he didn't fall into a trap- one that he'd been building up in the gods mind since their conversation began.

A laugh escaped him, which only caused Streit to raise a single eyebrow in return. He was still expecting a trap, which only made it all the better.

"You haven't even noticed yet, have you?" Draga asked seriously, raising his hands to gesture around them. The universe was identical- the stars all in the same position while meteors and comets took their natural courses. He hadn't changed them, after all- he'd only changed one thing: who was here.

Disboard, and any other world for that matter, were now vacant. Since he'd not specifically chosen to bring anyone but the two of them across, they were the only ones here.

All of his Domain was now missing, meaning his power would drain away until he ceased to exist entirely.

If his eyes suddenly widening was something to go by, he noticed, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it now. The _why_ on that was actually pretty funny.

 **The God (Passive and Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 1000000000, 1000000000 per second**

Eating a decent portion of a Phantasma carried some results, as had increasing his Intelligence further by devouring the colossal Grimm. It wasn't enough to make the skill efficient by any means, but _usable_ was what mattered. Sure, it ate away at his entire mana bar- after Sekali halved the price, even- but he could maintain it indefinitely. With the Illusion Barrier active, he had nothing else to spend the mana on.

He had all the time in the universe, literally in this case.

Streit still tried to hit him, but the skill was utterly broken. Invulnerability, free teleportation with infinite range, and the ability to completely ignore any finite physical force. Even the Spear of Onyxus accomplished nothing, the normally unstoppable weapon deflecting off his shirt without the slightest rip.

There wasn't a whole lot Draga could do to dodge him. Even with his own teleportation, Streit was definitely more accustomed to the ability, and would just keep up, so Draga didn't bother. Instead, he just let him wail uselessly on him with blows normally able to rend planets apart.

At least, they could do that at first, but the strength of them clearly waned with time. He couldn't tell from his end, since the attacks did zero damage either way, but the ripples they sent across the empty space were a good metric to base it off.

 _Absolutely busted._

"Surrender."

He didn't- at least not right away- but there was nothing he could really do. Yesara, the blade capable of cutting dimensions apart- and the Illusion Barrier, by extension- was out of reach because of the rules they'd established earlier. He couldn't call upon the other gods to fuel him, either, even if they could somehow get here.

Draga need only wait.

* * *

"Welcome to Garrards Tavern!"

Draga let a small smile grace his lips as he stepped in through the wooden door to the demigods bar. The man he was looking for was standing behind the counter now, handing out a few drinks, but he still spared a glance his way.

There wasn't any recognition in those eyes- which were slitted both ways, somehow- but he was still friendly enough.

 **[LVL...?]**

 **Draco, The Bridge**

He looked different, which wasn't saying much when dealing with _yet another shapeshifter._ He was at least more consistent than the others, with only a change in the hue of golden wings and a change from ram horns to a single straight one out of his forehead. Odd for a man of his power to want to be a unicorn, but to each their own.

Swinging a leg over a stool, Draga waved him down across the bar. Draco moved across easily, leaning onto the counter slightly as he nodded. "What can I do you for?"

"A favor, actually." Draga called up the image of a Hokori- a Girimasu, since it was the easiest to visualize- and brought it to life with Fantasy. "I dealt with the portal summoning these pricks a while back. I need your help in return." While it hadn't been intentional, the portal _had_ closed after he went through.

His eyes widened slightly- perhaps recognizing Draga's red mane now- and then shrugged. "What do you need?"

"Some Dragons have a chess piece I need for a set. I was hoping you could get it for me."

* * *

It came as no surprise whatsoever that Draco go what he was looking for. The man was a monster, in every sense imaginable, and could completely ignore the Pledges thanks to being a species outside the sixteen they applied to. Being from another universe might have also made a difference, but with how Tet brought people over... Who knows.

Still, a little roughing up of Tiamat- even though the drama queen would definitely claim it was way worse later- and Draga had that race piece as well.

Getting the others, after the Dragons, was about as easy as he'd expected. Just having the Old Deus one earned him a few, and a little intimidation got them all to... Compromise.

Sora had actually been the most reluctant, once again repeating the line that he couldn't lose. _D_ _uh._ Tet's lost every chess game he played with anyone from Exceed. Why would this one be any different? He was objectively smarter than he was back then, whereas Tet seemed far more emotional.

It wasn't going to be a free game, by any means, but his odds were pretty damn good.

"Tet."

The one word, spoken tersely but at a low volume, was enough to bring him down.

"I want to change The Game, answers to all of my questions, and the Suniaster." What Tet would get was predetermined- the sixteen race pieces would default back to the representatives and he'd get bragging rights for eternity.

Not a huge reward, but what was an all powerful being supposed to want?

"Very well."

* * *

After everything he'd been through, beating Tet was... Unsatisfying. With every move either of them made, Tet seemed to grow more anxious, and only played worse because of it. With his Intelligence in the thousands, and Mathematician's Answer effectively letting him cheat, it wasn't even fun to play.

And then the ending came. Six pawns, both bishops, and a rook down. Considering the level of play he was used to, that was an embarrassingly small number of missing pieces- not that he wanted more, knowing the consequences.

Everything was over, at least.

"First things first." Draga strode forward. "Change the game to allow me to feel emotions."

There. An easy request- one he'd brought up so long ago and which should be simple to accomplish.

Except... "I can't."

* * *

 **Hoo boy, shit's happening. Four chapters to go, and Tet finally has to reveal everything. How fun.**

 **I'm sorry if any of you didn't enjoy the chapter- it was actually meant to mirror Draga's own emotions, specifically the anti-climax. He was continously overestimating things, with plans capable of dealing with them, and everything just... Just worked.**

 **And then he gets the bombshell dropped on him.**

 **See you all soon.**


	90. Will-8

**I underestimated how much time finals week takes up... Well, I'm done with it now, and have 18 days (from writing this) to complete 4.5 chapters. Piece of cake.**

 **I want to work faster- I really do- but, well...**

 **I can't. :)**

* * *

"You..." Draga took a step back- in shock, as well as anguish- but raised his voice into a shout. "You can't!? Quit joking around, Tet! I worked by ass off to get here, for the second god damn time, and you're going to just deny me!?"

The rage he felt was quelled by Gamer's Mind, the very thing he sought to change.

Only to come straight back as he willed himself to be angry again. _You don't get out of it this time._ Draga shot forward, grabbing the god's collar and hefting him into the air. Tets eyes were cold and empty- lacking the colors and shapes he had changed them to so long ago.

"Why do any of this!?" Draga howled, dragging him down to where their eyes met. "Tell me!"

Tet remained silent.

Draga swung around, plowing him several feet into the astral cube with a roar. "TELL ME!"

"I..." Tet began, before averting his gaze.

He wasn't having any of it. Draga's free hand shot out, forcibly turning his head back as he stared directly into his eyes. "You owe it to _me_ and you owe it to the _rest of Exceed_ to explain yourself _NOW_!"

"I'm not all powerful, okay!" he shouted back. "I never was!"

Draga took a step back, letting go as shock rendered his grip weak. He stared- in horror, as much as surprise- and had to work to keep his jaw in place. "You mean..." He couldn't even finish the thought, his gaze quickly turning to the world of Disboard. His vision was more than strong enough to see the surface- the illness sweeping the lesser races from the game.

What had he done?

Like everything else, the shock faded, replaced with frigid and harsh reasoning. This wasn't on him... Tet was responsible- for everything. He'd lied, repeatedly, and had yet to pay the consequences. That... That wouldn't stand. Chara even agreed with him, her own grumbling echoing within his head.

No more.

"Where is the Suniaster, Tet?" When he didn't answer straight away, Draga knelt down and stared directly into his eyes. "Where. Is. It."

Tet didn't move, but the answer came regardless. The spindly artifact materialized above him, the power radiating off of it in waves he'd have recognized even without his new senses. It was magic, in the purest for Disboard could offer, and a lot of it.

Draga stood up, leaving Tet to lie within the crater he'd been slammed into. He wasn't worth the attention or anger he felt- not anymore.

A single touch- a tap of his fingers upon the relic- and his job was complete.

The waves of power ceased to flow as the energy joined with him instead. There was no waste, as The Game simply prevented it on its own, and the ornate piece of metal bent to his will. It twisted and bent into its new form, and finally nestled into place upon his head- spotwelded to his skull as the new crown of the gods.

There was no rush of power, as he'd experienced many times before while increasing his mana. In its place was the bizarre sensation of being surrounded by it instead, as if he was a man on a tiny island while surrounded by the ocean. It seemed to stretch on endlessly, both in size and in depth, yet it was never overwhelming. It just... Just was.

Allowing another second for his mind to settle, he opened his character page.

 **Name: Draga Konungur  
**

 **Class: Novum Deus**

 **Title: The Grimm God**

 **Level: 123**

 **HP: 25925775 (ERROR)**

 **MP: 26074463 (ERROR)**

 **Str: 1498 (518515.5)**

 **Vit: 279** **(518515.5)**

 **Dex: 345** **(518515.5)**

 **Int: 344 (4437.6)**

 **Wis: 291 (2502.6)**

 **Luk: 259**

 **Points: 165**

 **Height: 6'2"**

 **Weight: 212**

 **Status Effects**

Draga smiled. It wasn't quite the same thing as saying he had infinite mana at his fingertips, but it was as close as he was going to get. His smile wavered when the pride behind it washed away, but he forced it in place regardless.

Abyss brought out a book and was consumed immediately.

 **Auric Booster (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10000**

 **The soul naturally tries to restore those who wield it to its natural state, whatever that is. It's not often very good at it, and frequently just isn't powerful enough to succeed anyway. It's been a long tradition for healers to provide both guidance and power to the soul, healing the body in the process.**

 **Actively replenishes 250 HP and MP to a soul bearing creature.**

 **Requires touch.**

That last part wasn't important- not anymore. The God took hold, negating the concept of distance, and allowing him to heal all of Disboard from the effects of their Race Piece being taken. It took no time, really, and went without error."

Having at least some forewarning, there were no casualties as a result of collapsing, so he didn't even need to unlock necromantic magic.

The next part was a little easier overall. Another skillbook, another skill, and Draga planted one hand on the defeated god's forehead.

Stealing answers from his mind wasn't exactly like he'd pictured. Lacking any way to forget, Tet remembered literally everything from his creation to now. He didn't have to sort through it for what he wanted, like he'd first expected, but instead just... Knew everything he did, as if he'd been around to see it the first time. That didn't give him specifics, though, since there was just too much information to process in the measly second it took to gain it. He'd seen everything...

There was just one exception. One particular memory seemed to be blocked off, which was noteworthy for that reason alone.

Simply pouring more mana into the skill got the desired effect and brought the conversation to life.

* * *

 _"I can't believe you're going through with this."_

 _Tet hadn't been holding a breath to let out, but it was a simple measure to sigh anyway. "I was wondering when you'd show up." He turned his head just enough to see his old friend. He enjoyed seeing him- really- but he still had to glare at him for the comment. "Need I remind you whose plan this was?"_

 _Riku could only shrug. "This still wasn't quite what I meant by 'play another game with me'. We were supposed to enjoy it together."_

 _Rolling his eyes, Tet turned back to where Draga had just fallen into The Game. It was empty, now, without even a trace of the magic used to transport him away. "That's not really in the cards- not yet, anyway. Perhaps when Draga's done... We'll see."_

 _"Odd of you to wait your turn. Something I should know about?"_

 _Tet waved him off, plastering a smile on his face before he turned. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Draga can take care of it."_

 _That seemed enough for Riku, who simply ran a hand through his hair before shrugging it off. "If you say so. You gonna screw with him in the meantime?"_

 _Grinning wider gave him away, even before he nodded. "Obviously. I can't just let him have all the fun."_

 _"Cool, cool..." Riku looked off to one side for a second- though only the expanse of space existed that way. When he turned back, though, there was a frown on his face. "Tet... I know there's something going on that you're not telling me. I'm not gonna push, but if its related to why you're waiting, I feel like you owe it to me to explain."_

 _Of course he wasn't satisfied... This was the man who originally unlocked the Suniaster- what was he expecting?_

 _"Very well." Tet flipped around to face him directly. "There's a threat that I saw while searching around for people like you. A malevolent being spawned by the collective subconscious of all life in a particular universe- the Warp, they call it- who goes by the name of Tzeentch. He... He can't come here, yet, but a seer I spoke with afterwards assured me he eventually could. I could fight him as he is now, but he won't be that way forever. He will amass power to a near infinite degree."_

 _"And Draga comes into this... How? We designed The Game specifically to weaken you. It would still empower him, but not to that extent."_

 _"I don't expect him to win with force," Tet explained, surrendering the point. "The Game will still let him traverse dimensions, hopefully finding a solution among them or... Have I told you about Primordials before?"_ _Riku nodded. "He has one- and a powerful one at that. Within that particular version of Draga is the Primordial of Time. If push comes to shove... I think we could rely on its help."_

 _Riku raised a hand rather pointlessly. "Didn't you say they're only here for entertainment, though? Why would they intervene?"_

 _"They need the multiverse to still be habitable, don't they?" It wasn't exactly firm reasoning, but Tzeentch could eventually ruin_ _every single universe without an omnipotent being within it. "It would require Draga to perish for good, but I can see it saving everyone from him after he fails."_

 _"You plan for him to fail?" Riku asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Why even bother with The Game, then?"_

 _Tet sighed again- still without having inhaled. "I'd rather he win without dying. Unless you can think of a reason not to, he should at least get the chance."_

 _"Whatever you say." Riku flicked his gaze off to Disboard down below. "Looks like the others are getting impatient. I'll leave you to it." He took a single step forward, vanishing once the afterimage faded an instant later._

* * *

Draga blinked, taking a second to adjust to his own vision again. Seeing that all from Tet's perspective, emotions and all, yet having no agency... It was an odd experience, and moreso considering how emotionless he'd been throughout the rest of it.

It was almost like Tet had a Gamer's Mind of his own, and it was... Stronger, even.

That wasn't important- not right now. Draga met Tet's eyes again. "Why did you block that off? You already as good as said that before." He'd literally witnessed that very same argument again from Tet's eyes, albeit without the gravity this had. At best, the only real secret had been Riku, but he too featured in other places in the god's memory.

Just thinking the man's name brought up memories of his question- the injuries he sustained in leading Humanity to become Imanity. It was an inspiring tale, made only moreso when remembered through Tet's perspective.

"I actually wanted you to see that," he answered, sitting up on the rock. He needed an arm to keep himself standing, apparently too weak after being removed from the Suniaster. "Blocking it off was the only way for you to see... I wanted you to win- to beat Tzeentch and survive. He's already grown beyond me, or anyone else in this world, and I needed to protect it somehow."

By using him as a soldier. It made an unfortunately high amount of sense, which was annoying since Draga _wanted_ to be angry with him. "And I failed. Why not take action then? Tzeentch needs to be defeated."

"Simple," he said, giving him a flat expression. "There wasn't anything I could do. I told you before, my power doesn't extend to other universes- that was completely true. I even told you The Game was meant to get around that... It was never meant for you. It was designed for me and Riku."

Right, he'd figured that out by now. "So then why couldn't you change it as I asked? Or, Hell, why not just give me the Suniaster from the get go? That would, you know, HELP!" That last part was shouted, old anger reappearing before it was sucked away. "Tzeentch was weak when I first met him- to the point where, if I had infinite mana, I could very well have found a way to beat him."

Tet sighed, and now that Draga was aware of it, he noted that he _did_ breath in air first. "You know as well as I that force wouldn't be enough, though perhaps not why. Killing that incarnation would do nothing to stop an endless army of more. You can't even stop that without going full genocide on the entire universe." He fell back, staring up into the void of space. "All of the Chaos Gods are representations of crucial aspect of all life. Truly deleting them would require shattering those natural processes, which would necessarily create new ones and- with it- new gods."

 _More information that would have been nice to have._ It didn't change a whole lot, since he'd never planned to just stab Tzeentch to death, but he very well might have tried just deleting him. That would... End poorly.

"And the reason you were unwilling to change The Game?" Draga asked, glancing towards him out of the corner of one eye.

"I think you already know the reason, Draga," he returned easily, and not incorrectly. He did know- he just wanted the bastard to say it. Having his memories was still... Unusual, to say the least, and not particularly helpful, but he was 'reminded' of things Tet knew when he thought of something related. Just asking the question has answered it.

Tet hadn't really created The Game, and the same went for Riku. They designed it, sure, but Tet wasn't able to affect other universes- he couldn't just change that. He had someone else do it, or... Something else.

 _Fucking Tet, man- you couldn't have chosen someone else?_ Probably not, really, but contacting someone who lives outside the multiverse was... Impossible, frankly. For Draga, obviously; Tet managed by having Great Red come to him.

Which also meant changing Gamer's Mind wasn't possible, at all. Tet's memories were enough to know that, for anything created within one of the universes, it wasn't feasible to contradict the will of Great Red. Whatever the extradimensional dragon wanted simply was.

If Gamer's Mind wasn't forcing him to think rationally, perhaps he'd feel slighted about that, but instead he just felt numb. Apparently, that didn't count as an emotion, which was... Pretty much nothing anyway, but theoretically good to know.

"And I still need to battle Tzeentch, don't I?" Having Tet's memories, he was pretty much positive the answer was yes, but he still felt disappointing when the god in question nodded. "And ideas?"

"If I had an idea, you'd already know... The best one I'd come up with was using your Primordial, but even that isn't nearly as simple as I'd told Riku."

Right... The whole not listening to them part of it. The Primordials were technically responsible for Tzeentch being created in the first place, which might have given them the job of dealing with him, but it could just as easily be an idea beyond them. He'd known nothing beside what Tzeentch told him, and apparently Tet knew about as much.

"How long do we have?"

"Honestly?" Draga sighed, which was somehow taken as agreement. He didn't bother to correct him. "Given that every universe he enters both refines the process and gives him a chance to find another of himself... I'd give us a few weeks."

A few weeks... With Acceleration and Tachyon, that could be an eternity, and he very well might be forced to endure that.

 **"You're going to curse us with that?"**

He didn't feel any more enthusiastic about it himself, but what other choice did they have? If he was as unstoppable as they thought, Abyss and an unlimited amount of time were basically the only option. Tzeentch couldn't be infinite powerful, and if he had to just beat him in a fight for all eternity... That was better than damning an uncountable number of universes to whatever fate he deemed for them.

Here's hoping Sora and him could work something out... Given a margin of error on Tet's part, he was gonna give himself a week before settling on that. If nothing came up, then...

Better not to think about it.

* * *

 **Shit, I get distracted easily. I actually spent the last few hours creating the slight song parody, framing, and writing the ending for Will-12 instead of this. That's entirely on me, but I have no regrets- it was a blast. I really think you all are gonna enjoy the ending two chapters to this series.**

 **It pains me to say part of that- the ending part. This project has been two years in the making, and even though I'm gonna rewrite and lengthen the whole fucking thing after a short break, I can still feel the journey it took to get to this point.**

 **Writing was hard for me, when I started. It was work, as much as school had been, yet now... It's fun to me, and on a level that honestly has me surprised. I loved writing in fifth grade, but I mostly wrote short stories- like, shorter than one of these chapters short. They were all designed to poke fun at something, kind of like Minato's Folly is right now.**

 **This... This is something different. I have long struggled to find entertainment- which might confuse those of you who remember that I play League of Legends, but I do that mostly for the rage reaction. It's the closest I can often get.**

 **I can't exactly say I'm happy with Fickle Things, but it... It makes me happy.**

 **Thank you all for coming this far, and I hope to see you at the end of this.**


	91. Will-9

Abyss was obviously the place to start. An infinite bounty of skills, most of which he should have sought out anyway. Thanks to The God, range was no longer an issue, so he grabbed the most obvious combat ability: Touch Of Death. It was expensive, as though that was a problem, and could just tear the soul out of anything he could reach- meaning everything in existence. It would take time to level up, and didn't work on soulless creatures like Grimm, but those were inherently vulnerable to Consume as they counted as corpses.

Unfortunately, that clearly wouldn't work on Tzeentch. Even ignoring the fact that the bastard had an infinitely replenishing soul, actually removing him would fracture every reality he was a part of, which would be just as grizzly as letting him loose.

Long story short, fighting him directly wasn't an option.

Trapping him was considerably difficult, too. Whatever problems he had with Tzeentch as a person, his powers were powerful, and the ability to both manipulate and- in limited bursts- rewind time made any normal cage next to impossible. The Warp also played a part in that, giving him instant access to every universe he'd previously been in. He'd already unlocked a multidimensional tracking skill, which he could tag Tzeentch with on touch, but he could have any number of universes at his fingertips. Trapping all of them would be an ordeal, particularly with _multiple_ Tzeentch's thrown into the mix.

They were linked, supposedly, so they _might_ all join together in the fight, making it easier. If they didn't... Trying to capture them all would take a long ass time.

To that end, he'd also unlocked a few cloning abilities. They had different functions and costs, which made each of them more useful in specific situations, but the Suniaster basically let him bypass all of them. The only _real_ limitation was on respect to their minds. Creating a mental link with them wasn't even hard, but it got... Confusing, to put it lightly. It wasn't as if they simply had the same mind, but rather a competing ground of all of their thoughts simultaneously.

Cloning also had the added risk of any single one of them being defeated by Tzeentch, having their mind and body consumed by him, and thereby giving away any plans they could have had while removing any ability advantage he might have had.

Needless to say, that wasn't really going to work.

Sora, thankfully, did come up with an idea. It would be a last resort, but they could technically bring other people into The Game, including omnipotent beings, and give them multiversal power. They would be able to stop Tzeentch, but create something which would be potentially _worse_ than Tzeentch. He, at least, couldn't take over _every_ reality.

Tzeentch also needed them alive. Chaos and The Warp only existed so long as sentient life did, so he couldn't just go full genocide. Based on Tet's memories, he simply froze the physical processes of the realities he entered, keeping them in a continuous state of thought and nothing else.

Terrifying, sure, but better than ceasing to exist... Kind of. That was a matter of perspective, and he'd rather _neither_ happened, so it would be better to beat Tzeentch on his own.

Overall, he'd have to say it was a productive four minutes since the conversation with Tet.

Unfortunately, productive didn't really mean a whole lot against Tzeentch. He needed a direct solution besides _murder._ Murder was easy- absurdly so, against Tzeentch, as one of his own brothers actually had a solution. Nurgle's Brew could kill him dead over and over again, assuming he got enough of it, but no... He couldn't take the annoyingly hard way out, and had to do the impossible instead.

Ironically, he could actually use the help of a few of the villains he came across. Malkuth in particular would have a few ideas, or at least know how best to bend reality, but he'd already exposed that world through the Chaos Token. S.P.I.R.I.T., if she wasn't destroyed the first time around, might have been able to come up with something. Less an ally and more an brainstorming machine.

Hm... Perhaps some of his allies could help? The list was rather short, but he could generally convince almost anyone to help- through force, even if they didn't listen to reason. The problem was moreso their approaches... Draco would just default to murder or imprisonment, neither of which would really help him here, while Caelem would only really use the former.

Xander simply wasn't on the tier where he'd know any better than him, while the same went for everyone he'd met at Aklihara. Jaune might have actually been helpful, if he wasn't out of reach for the same reason as Malkuth.

Curse that reality tumor- the bastard cut off nearly everyone he could actually... Talk to...

Malkuth wasn't actually on Remnant, was he? He was imprisoned within some kind of pocket dimension, which should theoretically be accessible. From there, he could look into Remnant and see if he could conscript Jaune or anyone else as well. It wasn't exactly the safest idea he'd had, but definitely one to come back to later. If Tzeentch didn't note Malkuth's special circumstances, he should be fine.

Who else, then? Most of the people he knew were dead or too weak to help- something that applied to Chara in equal measure- but those he knew would necessarily know other people. That made Draco and Caelem more appealing options, and they both conveniently were at the same location.

Maybe not right then, but who cares? He had time powers for a reason. All he had to do was avoid meeting himself and it'd be fine.

Actually... Did he? Time related powers had to create paradoxes all the time, and they couldn't just collapse all the universe that caused them- there were an infinite number of the damn things, after accounting for the omniverse. Was that Great Red's purpose? Even Tet's memories didn't really tell him what he was there for.

Still better to play it safe. Heck, if that is Great Red's job, perhaps he could just lure Tzeentch there while causing a paradox.

Man, now that he thought about it, he had a lot of trump cards... A shame none of them were reliable. Each of the ones he'd discovered so far had a chance to fail- a chance that wasn't based on luck, which he could probably mess with somehow, but rather based on information he just didn't have, and couldn't. The only one who could really confirm anything is Great Red himself, and he wasn't going to be able to contact him.

But he could contact Draco, which was why the dimensional door tore itself open in front of him. It was a simple matter of stepping through the portal and he was gone.

* * *

Arriving at Garrard's Tavern was exactly as he remembered it from what felt like minutes before. Open plains stretching for miles outside and a medieval style inn made from some magically reinforced stone and wood just set down atop some seemingly random hill. The sounds of drinking and jovial conversation would have been clear without his powers, while he was going to blatantly ignore two of the bedrooms above him as much as possible.

The patrons were different- mostly. Two animal people he'd seen last time and given almost no thought remained, though were still as unremarkable as before.

And then there was Draco. The winged man wasn't at the bar, for once, but in the cellar instead, and doing something with a number of unmarked white bottles. It took a few moments to figure out what it was, but the man was apparently converting his own blood- that of some magic creature, but he had no reference for what that would have been- into a drink, then just regenerating.

It wasn't too dissimilar to an ability he'd gotten to create water, though he'd never really needed to use it. Most of the skills from Yorick's library had been pretty useless, unfortunately.

Draco wrapped up what he was doing as he filled another bottle- placing it on a pallet of sixteen and lifting it up. He lugged it up the stairs, depositing it under the bar, before he finally scanned the room. One of the failed attempts to get a cloning ability came into play, replicating one of the bottles in his hand before he tossed it into his Inventory, which was currently pressed up against the counter wall.

In that time, he had also already warped to the closest seat. "Allo, mate- short time no see."

He didn't comment on that, instead just staring at him as if to discern his purpose for being here. When that failed, he asked instead. "What do you want?"

"I need help. Again." Not the best introduction, but he had enough respect for the mans intelligence to trust him to figure that out anyway. Being able to read his thoughts, which happened to include an internal put-upon sigh, he also already knew that he knew. "Not so much literal, since I don't think you could fight him either, but I need a plan."

His hand rose in a vague gesture, which he didn't actually understand, but it didn't seem like he was supposed to- someone else came over, taking a seat beside him. It was a woman, but not one he or Tet had ever met, which is why the familiarity of her warm voice instantly put him off. "You rang~"

Draco gestured again, in what was more obviously a code of some kind, before pointing at Draga. Without another word- or any, for that matter- he moved along to deal with another patron.

"So-" he only got the one word in before she shushed him, going so far as to place her entire hand over his mouth. She was surprisingly strong- though obviously less than him- but it was still enough for him to fully scan the woman.

She was wearing a cloak to mask her form, as though that mattered, along with a mix of leather and metal armor underneath. It covered most of her, making it vastly more practical than in most fantasy universes, and even went so far as to include both neck and hand guards. No helmet, though, which made more sense given the scales that covered portions of her body. They were bright red and rather small, but tightly enclosed on one another and even multiple layers deep. While small portions of her face went uncovered, the rest of her head was, and it trailed down her back to then enclose her limbs.

Judging from what little he knew of Draco's path, she was probably among the group he was with when he conquered a nation of dragons. Either that, or she was one, but he felt that would make her a little less casual in dealing with him.

Given the armor disguising most of her features, it would be fairly easily to think her human, if one ignored her head. Even a helmet wouldn't be able to disguise her bright green eyes- or the vertical slits within them. They were the eyes of a hunting animal, literally, and difficult to miss with how they literally glowed back from the darkness of her hood.

No horns, which would help at least. If someone didn't ask for the helmet to be removed, she could probably pass as human just by claiming to have magic, which was probably true anyway.

Much like the Warbeasts and Elves back on Disboard, trying to understand her internal organs was a lost cause. He could recognize the digestive system, her heart, and one larger two-tiered sack which was similar to human lungs, but the rest was beyond his knowledge to identify.

His inspection did reveal one particular oddity, which would explain her and Draco's behavior. She... She didn't have ears. Cosmetically, she did, with flesh bending up and away from the side of her head as if to mimic it, but there was nothing of the internals.

The whole examination took place in a few seconds of Tachyon, in which he also checked above her head. Whatever Clairvoyance let him get away with, this still wasn't one of them, and the nameplates only shown in his actual eyes.

 **[LVL146]  
**

 **Aggmra, Whispers Of Oblivion**

That level was ridiculous, and that title... It was definitely worth drawing into Abyss once more to learn telepathy. He'd only bothered to learn one side of the equation, since he could throw his voice with both air manipulation and White Tiger's Roar, so hadn't really needed mental communication before.

Letting time resume, he gave it a shot.

 _Greetings, fellow human being. How is your flesh suit this sun cycle?_

She frowned, clearly not enjoying the veiled reference to her inhumanity, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He'd called himself human in that too, which was also a blatant lie- just not one she could see with his current form. Since he was the manifestation of a Primordial, he was basically the puppet of a magic space god, which kind of precluded your species, even before taking the rest of his shit into account.

Aggmra wasn't one to let it bother her for long, though, and quickly set her face into a neutral expression. She didn't say anything, but thought it instead, deliberately testing his abilities. Lacking any reason to reply, he answered her question.

 _Yes, I can read your thoughts._

She chuckled to herself, a soft sound only audible to him because of Clairvoyance, and he got a first hand demonstration of why her voice was as pleasant as it was- she wasn't actually speaking. While she had vocal cords, they weren't the right shape or design for human voices, and weren't even moving with her lips.

Definitely a magic of some kind.

Heedless of the fact he could read her thoughts, she spoke to him, which he was honestly thankful for. Reading someones thoughts brought up almost everything, unconscious or subconscious, and it was just annoying reading through every itch or abstract moment to reach what he wanted.

"Draco mentioned that you had some tedious request?"

Of course he just casually disregarded the responsibility... Of course... _I need help figuring out how to deal with an enemy who I can neither kill nor realistically trap. Any ideas?_

Aggmra clicked her tongue a few times, her thoughts flashing by too quickly for him to read properly. He could have Accelerated to listen in, but that seemed a little contrived, especially when she was about to voice them anyway. "Is your enemy mentally vulnerable? If you could wipe his mind or conscious thoughts somehow, you could direct his future."

He'd actually thought of something similar himself, specifically attacking his mind through some kind of telepathic pressure. That didn't seem practical, given that he would be combating something which was supposedly the collection of all thought within his realms. Even if it didn't work exactly like that, he should have some way to defend himself.

After he explained that, she didn't have an answer, and was forced back into thought. Draga could already tell it was a wasted effort, though, and only asked for one more clarification- whether Draco would know any better.

According to her, he was a master at some sects of magic, but none of them would help. She'd even brought up him apparently having some limited time travel, thinking that would help, but it hardly mattered. Even if Tzeentch was somehow not immune to the effects of abilities _he had_ , then Draga hardly needed Draco's help to manage.

 _I'll be off, then- say goodbye to Draco for me._

She nodded, which was enough for him. He stood up, shuffling out the door and in the direction of the entrance to The Enchanted Cave.

The Pale Rider was next, and he didn't even need Abyss to get to him. A simple reversal of personal time, through combining Tachyon and Acceleration in a way he wouldn't have been able to afford without the Suniaster, and he was able to watch as the world glided backwards around him. If he'd watched closely, perhaps he'd have seen everything that had happened since, but he was watching out for a very specific thing with his senses...

Minutes passed, though reality turned back weeks, until...

 _There._ Mana Tapping allowed him to sense magic, even beyond his range of sight, which included the absolute beacon that was Caelem Argenti. He could also sense himself, however, and thus was forced to wait.

And wait...

He sped up his personal time.

 _And wait some more..._

God, he hated waiting. Having Tet's memories hardly helped, since the bastard apparently had a masterclass in being bored all the time. Gamer's Mind helped mitigate the effects of its own influence, stopping him from feeling frustrated. A shame boredom didn't count as an emotion.

 **"You made it a decade without interacting with anyone but me- why does this annoy you so much?"**

Why? The answer was pretty simple- he hated doing nothing. Always had, actually. As much as Kirase's father was _definitely_ manipulating him into playing games as a kid, he'd reveled in it for just that reason. They were more fun than nothing, freely available, and carried both reward for success and punishment for failure. Waiting, though... It had none of those, and call him spoiled if you want, but he'd literally never had to _wait_ for anything in the Demon palace.

No... He had to _work_ for it, by being good at everything he did, which he very well might have done anyway. It was fun.

 **"I can't tell if you're entitled or just nostalgic."**

Draga huffed, which probably sounded way more terrifying to anyone outside his bubble of time distortion- not that he could bring himself to care. "Both? I didn't exactly have the most healthy childhood, you know."

 **"You seem pretty well adjusted, so it can't have been that bad."**

Heh. She didn't know the half of it- or she did, but _just_ half of it. It was hard to go a decade with someone without discussing the past, but he'd avoided describing how he was as a person. Kirase... Al'Akir... They were great, really. Many might have dissed on the Demon King, and he did rule with a gigantic titanium fist, but only in the sense that he _had_ a gigantic titanium fist. Realistically, they were the best possible Demons for the job of raising him, even if Kirase was only a few years older than him.

 _He_ was the problem child in the group, and- though he'd never tell him, since he could feel the smug smile radiating from whatever alternative universe he had told him in- Sora was the one responsible for who he'd become.

The conversation didn't get to continue, since young-Draga vanished from detection. Memory serving, he should be faceplanting into the middle of Akilahara about now, which meant Caelem was free and available.

A slight effort on his part had him appearing by the man and a few others. In this particular timeline, they hadn't been alone, and as he scanned the otherwise empty stone corridor that would lead them into a... an army of spiders; _and I'm more glad than ever that I didn't keep going._

 **[LVL171]**

 **Bolt, The 55 Tails**

 **[LVL171]**

 **Caelem, The Pale Rider**

 **[LVL78]**

 **Thrak, The Earth Breaker**

The nature of Caelem's level was a tad bizarre, but he let it go without comment. He had changed his level by absorbing energy once before, so it didn't take too much effort to believe he'd just absorbed some from Bolt.

Thrak's title was new, too, though could very well have to do with the tunnel carved through the maze he noted vaguely behind them.

Physically, they looked exactly how he remembered, which was enough. He only even needed one of them, anyway- the literal personification of Death.

"H-"

"Stop." It was Caelem who spoke, in a commanding tone Draga couldn't seem to ignore. He waited patiently for the man to continue. "I can already tell who you are, and I just want to say..." He paused- for dramatic effect, obviously. The bastard; that was his job. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

 _Huh?_

"What do y-" Draga stopped on his own this time, thinking that over. What had just happened... The portal? But that had been The Game, right...?

Yes... But the portal hadn't sucked him in the other times. If he'd been aware, he could probably have avoided crashing to the ground, too- something that could easily have killed him after Thrak's bear hug.

"I hate you."

He nodded in acceptance. "Is that everything?"

 _This is gonna be my whole day, isn't it?_


	92. Will-10

**Merry Chrismahanukwanzadon, everyone. I hope you've been enjoying the holidays, and I plan to myself. Just a few days to go before this whole thing is complete... So close.**

 **This chapter is a bit shorter than expected, since it's mostly setup for the two-part finale that's coming up, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.**

 **To finally finishing something!**

* * *

In the end, none of them had any useful ideas. Bolt had one which would be helpful against an opponent he could actually _kill,_ but manipulating the size of his hand and abusing Abyss to drag Tzeentch into attacks wouldn't be useful.

Everything else was about as useless as he'd come to accept from them. It wasn't their fault, really- Tzeentch was just a complex problem. He couldn't blame them.

That didn't make the wasted hour of time feel any less annoying. Sure, the entire conversation happened inside frozen time, but he still had to actually endure however many pointless they came up with. They seemed locked on the idea of murder, Caelem in particular going so far as to explain a variety of different afterlives and how they could theoretically be used to contain him.

If only it was that easy.

He was kind enough to warn them of the trapped room up ahead, but still made to leave after it was abundantly clear they couldn't help him. That only left Malkuth, and man was that a conversation he'd been hoping to avoid. Even with what little he actually knew of his character from Schwarz, Malkuth never seemed like a pleasant individual, much less one he'd want to willingly release onto Remnant.

Unfortunately, everyone must pick their battles, and one world just wasn't consequential enough in the grand scheme of thing. If that was what it took...

More on that later- there still were other ways to handle it, and his actions still depended on the reality warper's ability to help. If he didn't have anything, then he'd stay right where he was.

That was enough of a reassurance to get him moving- if one could call instantaneously appearing at your destination a form of movement. He appeared back at Garrards, giving one last look to Draco, before willing a portal into existence by the ceiling.

Out of everyone he knew of in this world, the Mozirek was inarguably the best equipped to handle whatever came back through the portal when he was gone, and he'd be leaving it up as an escape plan. The God allowed him to use it from any distance, meaning he could leave the instant he felt the need to- an important thing, since he doubted Tzeentch would fall for the same trick twice.

The rectangular gateway whirred angrily as he moved through it, as though it knew the problems with what he was about to do, but he dismissed the thought. Doing nothing would only be worse.

* * *

Draga hadn't set a particular destination in mind when he created the portal to Remnant. He didn't need to, and would just have to rely on luck of the draw that he was instantly spotted by Tzeentch on arrival. That seemed unlikely overall, and he was fortunate enough to not detect any colossal space gods anywhere near him.

A quick glance around revealed his location, though it had certainly changed since his last visit. Gerrusan had already destroyed Beacon Academy well before Chaos arrived, but Vale itself was in ruins too. The people were still there, trapped in some kind of stasis- unable to move, yet still able to think and feel. More confusing- at least for the Grimm he could see still fully capable of moving down below- is how invulnerable they were. Any attempt to rip or tear their flesh failed, which was honestly more kind than Draga pinned Tzeentch for.

Then again, he did need them alive to serve as thought generators, so... Maybe it wasn't as kind as he thought.

Grimm made note of his presence- perhaps sensing the momentary disgust and hatred he'd felt- but they looked away the moment Gamer's Mind stripped that away. Fortunate, since a battle would have definitely given his position away- tens of thousands of people sharing the same thoughts _had_ to be noticed.

That left him standing atop a barren cliff overlooking the city with not but the distant cries of soulless creatures for company.

 **"You have the worst memory."**

And Chara.

"It's not that I forget- you're just so annoying I don't want to think about you." A lie, but one she could easily detect all on her own. The first part was true- she wasn't forgotten- but Gamer's Mind and the time spent training homogenized their thought processes. There were differences, but not enough to really consider her a different person. That should change when she got her own body and became free from the reach of his most annoying skill, but that wouldn't be done until Tzeentch was dealt with.

At the very least, she could serve as a distraction for Tzeentch. The battle would inevitably devolve into some kind of mental struggle, in which having a second mind to use would be pretty useful.

For now, though, Malkuth took priority. The crown on his head hummed as he drew on its strength, summoning forth a Grimm he'd seen once before at the expense of seemingly trillions of mana. It was hard to measure, when the numbers literally didn't exist, and even Mathematicians Answer couldn't compensate for that.

The ability still bent to his will, pulling an orb the size of a softball out of literally nowhere. The black sphere hovered in the air for a moment, unmoving and perfect in its shape, before it made to summon forth the original Grimm: Gilgamesh.

It didn't make it that far, with a spike form from Langit Sanjata shattering it almost instantly. The shards fell to the ground, but didn't dissipate. Instead, after a few seconds, they collapse back in on one another to form a new and much smaller shape. Clairvoyance let him see the amorphous mass beyond the event horizon as it writhed in all directions, trying to break free from the bonds of gravity while simultaneously keeping the force from stretching out and rending the atmosphere apart.

Draga helped with that last part, creating a vacuum around it as he willed the mass up to eye level. The singularity stopped struggling, finding the effort wasted, and instead flared brightly through the power of its master.

The vast ocean of white it brought him to was neither unfamiliar or unexpected. He'd met Malkuth here twice before, after all, and found him almost instantly. It wasn't hard, even if Clairvoyance was nullified within the realm of his soul, and Draga politely turned to face the ancient being. He was as tall as he remembered, reaching just over thirty feet, and that was accounting for the absence of his lower body. In its place was the familiar singularity which stood in for his waist.

"Malkuth," Draga greeted simply.

Whatever he'd expected, the hearty chuckle the Archangel gave him wasn't it. The booming voice echoed impossibly within the empty space, but came to an end rather quickly as Malkuth leaned his silhouette down to peer at him. **"I must say, I hadn't expected any visitors. I've been stuck here for a long time, and with the outside world frozen, I'd believed myself condemned to spend the rest of existence watching through the eyes of my children."**

They were words designed to spark sympathy from him, though that obviously failed. Whatever Malkuth's situation, he was responsible for the _Grimm._ No matter how useful they were- and still would be in the future- they did hunt humans for sport. On the subject of that...

"Have you seen what I've been up to, then?" He had Consumed a number of absurdly high level Grimm, so it was hardly impossible for him to have become part Grimm. He'd turned Girimasu from eating _one_ of the bastards, so he could only thank Gamer's Body for him not turning some monstrous black and growing bone plating.

He didn't affirm or deny the question, though, which was mildly annoying. A yes would have saved him a lot of time explaining this, and flagrantly wasting time with his body on Remnant was the last thing he wanted to do.

 **"It's been a long time, Draga. I assume you have an offer for me?"** Malkuth's tone was needlessly coy, given how obvious both sides of the situation were. Malkuth would gradually lose himself and die without Draga's help while he needed information the true Grimm God might have. That 'might' complicated matters, since Malkuth wouldn't want to show his hand and Draga couldn't just free him first.

Or could he? Malkuth wouldn't have any reason to hide his knowledge if he knew his very existence was reliant on not pissing him off, but he couldn't really be harmed from his extradimensional plane. If he brought him out, murder would be quite the strong incentive.

"I do have an offer..." Draga said, finally. He dragged his words out, attempting to build tension though- with him being nothing more than a faceless shadow- it was impossible to judge whether it was working. "A mutual enemy of ours is a threat to me, and I need a solution to his existence. For a chance to pick your brain, I could end your imprisonment permanently."

Such a deal was undeniable, but Malkuth also wasn't in a position to accept outright, which is why it came as no surprise that he lifted a hand to his chin and hummed in thought. It was probably an act, with the transcendent immortal having a thought process faster than him, but he didn't comment on it.

 **"That does sound like an interesting proposition."** His voice was smug, though the fact his current form effectively _was_ his soul and Draga could read his emotions through that certainly helped. His thoughts were masked, however, through a process similar to his own White Noise. The light was entirely one, as though he emitted Aura to bypass it. There could be more to it than that, and probably was since nobody else he'd met had any kind of Aura-reading ability, but it still left him waiting on his words. **"What do you want to know?"**

Ah, a flash of uncertainty as he asked. Good- he could use that. "How does one stop that which cannot be removed and can change the world around it?" Malkuth and his brethren were all basically reality warpers, with him and Jaune's previous incarnation as the strongest, so he literally had to have experience on the matter- he'd won, after all. Er... Won in a loose sense, but prison was generally preferable to death.

He didn't answer right away, using a similar trick to the one he had earlier in an attempt to make him desperate. He was, in the sense that he was at risk, but the emotion never once crossed his face.

 **"There are different tiers of control,"** he said, realizing Draga wasn't going to give up. **"As many aware, dimensional tiering goes from below the third dimension and rises up to the sixth. While its possible beings exist above that, I wouldn't know."** He shook his head. **"I am a near-infinite third dimensional being, meaning I have the ability to control almost everything about the reality around me, but I am fully affected by the ramifications of time. Tzeentch has affected this universe from before his entrance into it using his... Realm of thoughts, I suppose, which means he has to be at least fourth dimensional."**

He didn't know the half of it- just his attention manifest through Ozpin was able to blatantly reverse time- even while it was frozen- and did so repeatedly in the middle of battle. He could do that too, thankfully, but Tzeentch had a far larger scope here. If Draga was fourth dimensional, then, Tzeentch had to be near-infinite fourth dimensional.

A shame, since it meant Malkuth wouldn't actually be of any use in the fight itself. He hadn't planned to recruit the force of nature, but it had remained an option.

 **"If you want to take someone like that down, you'd need someone who can affect multiple timelines at once or ignore them entire. A unique being- one who can only have on incarnation across as many universes. They could do something."**

Funnily enough, Draga knew about those... They were called Mozireks. Strange that the only being he'd ever heard being called that was weaker than he was now. There was probably a story about that... Perhaps a seal of some kind, or a loss of his abilities.

Regardless, Draco had effectively proven himself to be beneath Tzeentch, which left him back on square one. The only other thing he'd ever heard being truly unique was Great Red- through Tet's memories, obviously- and contacting him was as impossible as ever. Part of, you know, manifesting oneself outside time, space, and existence itself.

"And if those aren't an option?"

 **"Their powers aren't always direct."** Malkuth brought up the image Surga- though far smaller, so it could actually fit in the palm of his hand. **"You can only summon these through my power, yet I had no hand in making them. Whatever they do should still override things beneath them."**

That... Was actually pretty helpful. It gave him an idea, if nothing else, and that was a lot considering how many others had failed to do that. For all the darkness and evil associated with Malkuth, he'd actually been pretty nice overall, including his other interactions back with Schwarz...

Huh...

"What _do_ you want, Malkuth?"

The question caught him off guard, but he had no qualms answering. **"Ever since my brothers and sisters rose to power, we dedicated our lives to advancing science and discovering all there is to know. Despite our... Differences, I've never abandoned that goal."** Draga could almost glimpse a somber expression across his face as he continued. **"There was simply a complication that could not be solved without violence. I... Had more of a connection to the world than the others."**

That sounded like there was a whole story there, which he would normally have loved to hear for the context to his next decision, but there frankly wasn't time. He had an idea, but it wasn't something he could just plant on Tzeentch instantly. "Just tell me exactly what you want from me- we can hash out the details later. I have a reality tumor to deal with."

 **"I wish to be free from this prison and the shackles of humanities emotions. I can't imagine how you'll accomplish the latter, but if you can't..."** He shrugged.

Left unsaid was what he'd do, but Draga still figured it out almost instantly. The Grimm hunted negative emotions and were created by him... Kind of hard not to realize that. Though, with Abyss, it shouldn't be a problem to negate his emotions in the same way as Gamer's Mind. "I'll be back... Probably." One hand came up to scratch the back of his neck. "If I fail, I want you to try and... Try and kill me. I don't think you could, but give it your best shot."

He nodded, a gesture that was hard to recognize when the man had no texture. He was like a 2D shape against the empty white behind him. **"I'll leave you to it. Just one thing: you'll need to find the one you know as Jaune in order to get me out."**

Jaune, huh? Finding him shouldn't be too hard- he should have naturally been drawn to the original war between Gerrusan and the rest of the world, meaning John would know. If he didn't, he could always just meet with Malkuth again- the Grimm could find him.

While he was on the subject, screw whoever chose to have _two_ important people with effectively the same god damn name in the same story. Who does that? The omniverse meant there _had_ to be a universe where this wasn't a problem.

Malkuth made his exit quite deftly- just vanishing entirely. A shame, since being sucked into his singularity would have been a much cooler. Draga left a moment later, with the world of Remnant blinking into focus around him.

Nothing huge seemed to be out of place, which was nice. The Grimm had moved around a little, since he wasn't able to freeze time from the inside of his soul, but a quick scan of his surrounding revealed nothing of note.

 _Good- Tzeentch hasn't found me._

As if summoned by his thoughts- which, to be fair, he probably was- the sky was ripped apart somewhere above him and the Old One hovered down from it. Draga's eyes narrowed as he watched, his hands already going about the motions to grab one final book from Abyss so his newest idea would even have a chance to work, all the while a few thousand eyes leveled themselves down on him.

 **"Try not to choke on your fucking foot."**

Annoyingly, Tzeentch's sentiment was mirrored by Chara a second later, though with kinder words. He ignored both of them, consuming the last skill he should ever need.

 **Universal Clock (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable**

 **The spacial and temporal dimensions aren't that different, and can be broken in much the same way.**

 **Allows any ability that affects spacial dimensions to affect time as well.**

 **Affected abilities have their cost increased by 895%.**

Not quite what he'd been looking for, but it would do. The light particles from it faded about the time Tzeentch fully appeared within the world of Remnant- not that his physical body really meant anything. It was just a hideous mass of flesh that would normally ignore.

Tzeentch could definitely read his thoughts, so he stopped there. No use ruining his only chance.

His newest title wasn't exactly moralizing either.

 **[ERROR]**

 **Tzeentch, The Architect Of Fate**

Draga rolled his shoulders, a comforting action from back before any of this, and squared himself against his far larger opponent. Just because he couldn't kill the bastard wouldn't make this next part any less satisfying.

Time froze around them, the world turning gray as Tzeentch's power took hold, and a song he'd heard once before started up.

 **Background Music enabled: Time And Time Again, Draco Murdock**

They 'moved'.


	93. Will-11

**Exactly 24 hours before the final chapter launches.**

 **I can't wait.**

* * *

They 'moved'.

 **Made to start- ready to burn!**

Two fists, one no larger than an apple and the other the size of a house, crashed into one another with enough force to shatter mountains. Unlike Tachyon, Tzeentch's time freezing ability _did_ stop shockwaves, which instead just left a visible distortion in the air which would need to be dealt with later.

The exact same strike repeated a few times- Draga's teleportation being perfectly matched up against Tzeentch's own.

 **Make it count- it's your turn.**

No time passed- perceived or otherwise- between Draga slamming his fist against the massive construct and the next strike. Tzeentch took it easily on an open palm, which he squeezed harshly.

Draga barely winced as he returned the favor and unleashed an explosion from the stump he was left with.

 **Ready or not, here I come.**

In the brief instant his opponent turned his two main eyes away, Draga moved his own focus behind him. Above Tzeentch's shoulders, a few dozen Iniq Thun came into being and abruptly burst with a manually controlled burst of fire and lightning.

 **Bring the fight! Come get some!**

Whatever absurd powers Tzeentch brought to the table, he still clearly felt pain. If his grunt wasn't clear enough, he hunched over too, and that offered its own opportunities.

Rather than rely on The God for movement, since it negated the damage advantages of his ridiculous speed, Draga manifested an invisible platform beneath his feet and willed his various powers over him.

 **I've been here so long, raring to go.**

Preparations lasted only a lived second, which didn't sound like a lot, but it was enough for enough of Tzeentch's innumerable eyes to see what he was up to. That mattered, since it wasn't feasible for him to slow down with all of his honestly far too many buffs active.

He couldn't turn or retarget; he just had to go- _now!_

 **I'll always be here for one last blow.**

That very realization cost Tzeentch hard as Draga Lunged backwards instead and hit the Chaos God after he'd teleported in defense. It was a fine attack, but also confirmation that he could read his thoughts.

Langit Sanjata draped itself over him, turning what would have been blunt force into a rapidly spinning magic drill.

 **So you can take it, knocking one of us away.**

Even Chaos God's had their limits, and that was apparently enough to get him to honestly worry. Rather than tank it, or warp away- which would have taken a whole thought in order to do- he was forced to go with deflection.

The back of Tzeentch's hand flicked him upwards with enough force to redirect his momentum to the sky. Even in the brief time it took to trigger The God, he'd traveled almost a mile up.

 **It doesn't matter- I'll always be back one day.**

It didn't matter. Draga warped back down below, his posture even as he stood on empty air. Tzeentch didn't seem to mind the lull in battle, and actually matched the smile that had unknowingly appear on Draga's face.

Such emotions died an instant later as the second duration of The God wore off and Draga dashed again- this time prepared with Yellow Road to correct any changes in his direction.

 **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.**

Knowing about the ability, by reading his thoughts, Tzeentch had no trouble avoiding the admittedly rather obvious trap. He actually took advantage of it- the bastard- by knocking him off course, just as before, and warping away once Yellow Road kicked in.

He apparently foresaw the second casting of the ability to retarget him, and used the moment of blurred perception caused by rewriting momentum to catch Draga inside his giant palm.

 **I released my soul, and took my final breath.**

Tzeentch's fist closed, pulverizing the flesh within his fingers. To anyone else, that would have been their death.

 **Back again, with the flowers and the birds.**

Geysers of flame erupted from all directions, turning a myriad of colors as they wound their way around Tzeentch. They didn't press on him, however, as they served only to blind him for a moment.

A thought on the Chaos God's part dispersed the cyclical inferno, only to welcome him into the world of black brought about by millions of tiny Nevermore.

 **I will move; going onwards and forwards.**

They served their purpose as well- offering him a slightly longer distraction since he couldn't simply will the soulless beasts out of existence. They took a total of three thoughts and a moments action to remove, which was more than enough time for Draga to prepare his next attack.

 **You can try to stop me, and I'm sure it will work.**

A high pitched shriek tore through the air, the sound only possible because of who was behind it. One of Tzeentch's tentacles, previously sprouting from the Chaos God's back, writhed about in the air. The sound, coming from a monstrous mouth on the end, came to an abrupt end as he Consumed it.

The other would have followed, if not for Tzeentch collapsing it inward onto himself. A shame, as the less dexterous limb would have been a great meal.

 **No matter how you win, I'll still kill with this dirk** **.**

The sword that appeared in his hands definitely was not a dirk. He didn't even know what the proper term for it was, since he rarely bothered with single edged blades, but Observe helpfully called his newest item from the Abyss Naingozzu.

It burned his hands just by holding it- which was more impressive considering he was _healed_ by normal burns- and hummed in his ears despite how sound couldn't travel in Tzeentch's version of Tachyon.

 **Growing stronger and faster, all of the time.**

Whether caused by the sword itself or the armorset that drew itself over him, Draga couldn't actually tell, but he felt _stronger._ Not just in the normal sense, as his muscles were already impossible for him to grasp intuitively anymore, but a feeling of raw undulating power.

The God took hold, the pair mirroring the rapid flash of strikes from before.

 **Getting higher and higher- I'll beat this climb.**

Unlike the first time, where each of their fists accomplished little, Naingozzu tore into Tzeentch's flesh with ease. It was small in comparison to the god, so the actual gashes were barely worthy of note, but the pain he saw... It was so satisfying.

 **Battered and broken- weathered and worn.**

Tzeentch was still clearly amused by the fighting, from the easy smirk that appeared on his avatar's face, but it's clear the difficulty Draga posed was at least partially unexpected. He growled when a finger was torn off, and though he regenerated it a moment later, it was proof enough that his body could take damage.

 **Reckless and undead- here for the storm.**

No use playing it safe. Draga dropped The God after another clash- though made sure to apply his various beforehand- and used another invisible platform to Lunge across the sky.

The massive damage the newly fused air molecules would cause once time resumed aside, the attack went pretty well, and Draga was rewarded by one of Tzeentch's larger eyes bursting from the impact.

 **No matter the weapons, no matter the tools.**

Growling in some incomprehensible language, Tzeentch called upon something else- an army. All across the sky, the city below, and even the distant oceans and mountaintops, daemons encroached out from The Warp. They were trivial in comparison to the being they were born from, but with his power directly aiding them...

It was definitely better to play it safe.

 **I'll show you all one day- that you were all fools.**

Draga's hands crackled with energy as lightning burst out in all directions. They- and Tzeentch- reacted instantly, but that hardly mattered. The daemons lept aside, lightning followed, and Tzeentch moved to engage him in the moment of distraction.

What should have been a vulnerable position was offset rather drastically by the combination of Call Of The Storm, which prevented the cost from even drawing upon the Suniaster, Lightning Aura, which allowed him to create lightning with his soul- which was applied as a touch effect- and Aurora, which let him scale his Aura up pretty much at a whim.

 **Infinite in distance, and unbound by death.**

It was a sign of how ridiculously powerful Tzeentch was that the highest amount of mana he'd ever expended in a single attack only stunned his avatar. It still _did_ , though, making Draga smile.

A few quintillion mana wasn't enough? It was a reflexive number, and an attempt on his part to limit collateral damage from the paralyzed mortals below them, but he could do better. It had seemed weaker than the septillions of joules he'd expected, scaling off of the original cost of Pale Lightning and the power of a lightning bolt.

 **I release your soul, and take your final breath.**

Ordinarily he'd have just dumped more mana into him right away, but this was still talking about doomsday levels of energy. Tzeentch could take it all unto himself, but if he did anything lethal to his avatar, whatever remained would go onto him.

So, he used the connection Tzeentch had kindly given to him to warp the pair of them quite a distance- to the moon. _Then_ he dropped an additional fifteen zeros into him.

 **I know of you, Tzeentch, and infinity is tough. One victory is hardly enough.**

Only his complete immunity to fire and lightning could have possibly saved him from the spontaneous eruption of energy that followed. More energy than that contained within most planets consumed Tzeentch's avatar whole in an instant.

Yet, despite that lethal damage, he was back again a moment later. He had a new appearance, but that smirk, and the completely blase way he casually floated amidst the empty space around them... It was impossible not to recognize his new and almost human face.

 **I have forever- an unlimited number of chances- so I know you'll fall to my advances.**

Rather than rely on a burst of energy, which could backfire in so many ways- ranging from friendly fire to it somehow being turned on him- Draga went with the safer approach.

That it looked like a sudden influx of energy was irrelevant. The mass created to encompass him was from Langit Sanjata, and had no presence outside the cell itself.

 **Lightning, and fire, and destruction alive.**

Tzeentch wasn't particularly bothered by his new holding cell, and gave it little more than a shrug of his shoulders- showing how little it mattered with his shoulders literally rolling up and into the magical material.

That was, of course, until he actually used it. It was an extension of his will and so easily infused with the combination of fire, lightning, and air- not in the normal sense, of all three, but the actual advanced element he'd unlocked so long ago.

 **I'll die once again, another test drive.**

He was gone before the literal Destruction element could do more than sear off the outermost layer of his flesh, which was- itself- an important thing to test. Unlike the element of lightning, Destruction didn't innately stun things.

Gamer's Mind, in turn, stopped the clawed finger that gouged out his chest from doing more than wince.

 **Kill me again- again and again.**

Stunned or not, that was a 'lethal' blow, made only more so when he ripped it to the side and tore him in half.

It hurt, but it was almost mild in comparison to many things he'd felt before. The absence of flesh just didn't hurt, and when Gamer's Body instantly corrected for most of his body being flicked off of Tzeentch's finger, even that was removed.

 **Just a instant of life- call us minutemen.**

Being impaled sucked, though quite a bit more when his head was taken out instead. While he was still aware and conscious without a physical skull, which was a pretty good thing to know going forward, but it limited his ability to react since it took out his eyes. Even with Clairvoyance, it functioned _through_ his eyes.

Not that the barrage of attacks did much, which eventually left him watch as his opponent backed off to reconsider his strategy.

 **And I love the way you 'hurt' me.**

Tzeentch changed tact well- drawing upon his powers create localized storms of shattered space. When it was shown that The God allowed him to ignore those, he moved on, relying instead on the manifestation of Daemons again.

Not by bringing them out, which would just result in their mass slaughter, but by creating small openings in space all around the battlefield which they could stab any number of sharp objects through. They were about as effective as the storms, with most of their weapons breaking against his skin- likely an effect born from his massively inflated Vitality.

 **My blade shall set you free.**

The sword he'd acquired earlier- Naingozzu- wasn't too great a weapon against the massive being, but only because of the size difference. A single skill from Abyss, consumed the instant it came into being, and it grew to the size of a windmill blade.

One didn't reach the age of an eternity by being a complete idiot, and Tzeentch could be credited with his choice to play hide and seek. Unfortunately, the surface of the local star, which was still something he could see.

 **The past is but a memory- what is a real life now?**

If Kirase could see him now, ramming a colossal blade into a god and plunging the two of them into a sun... Well, he'd probably cheer, but he was always cool like that. Didn't make the total surrealism of the situation any less potent.

 _Hm... Those lyrics..._ He'd think on it later- any realization now would only benefit Tzeentch, who had confirmed back when he'd battled Ozpin that he _could_ hear it.

 **The Game is all consuming, but I'll beat it somehow.**

It was tempting to devour the sun and use it as a weapon, but it wouldn't be useful. He could kill Tzeentch's avatar without it, and it's removal would kill the entire population of Remnant.

His fun was put aside as he warped back to the moon instead. It was already in ruins, so nobody could really complain if it was destroyed further.

 **Every time I try, I know I'm gonna die,**

Draga cursed under his breath as Tzeentch used the instant of vulnerability from him teleporting away to slam his monstrous fist into him.

Enough force to shatter a moon rammed into him, shooting him backwards at impossible speeds and- instead of crashing into it- he blasted straight on to the other side of a moon fragment.

 **But the quest is for a life where I can stop living this lie.**

The pain and anger faded away in an instant, replaced with the cold logic which reminded him- yet again- of how pointless this all was.

 **Take a minute to remember to breathe.**

He paused, watching Tzeentch through the hole in the moon. It was too far for his eyes normally, but with Clairvoyance, his vision range was effectively infinite in space.

 **I often forget that I even have a sheathe.**

Draga sighed, noting how he'd been impaled again. Considering how Aura let damage apply to his mana and the Suniaster gave him effectively infinite... It was just a nuisance, and the demon responsible was eviscerated with a thought.

 **What's the point of fighting- what's at stake?**

Despite the lyrics to the song, he didn't actually have any doubts about his motives. It was pretty simple...

 **Oh yeah- you have a face I've gotta break.**

The sword floated out from his hand, leaving it free for him to activate Tremor and punch the nearest moon fragment. It pulverized on contact, heat arising both naturally and from his will as he consciously collected the mass together.

A few thousand tons of moon debris coalesced into a molten fist which was thrown at Tzeentch. He dodged it, obviously, but both teleportation and flight would leave him open for the smallest of moments to strike. He chose the former.

 **Trying to take my friends- my lovers- my family?**

While his feelings were negligible thanks to the game- a problem he _was_ going to be fixing later- he still cared for people. Some dead, mostly alive, and one literally trapped within his own skull. He was going to remove that.

Tzeentch appeared a good mile away, as though that distance mattered, and Draga took quite a lot of satisfaction in the way Tremor rippled the force of his impact through the Old One's 'flesh' instead of simply piercing through.

 **A nice dream- that you could ever get past me.**

Funnily enough, Tzeentch had actually succeeded at that a few times before. Hell, he'd probably do that a few more times in the next... Zero minutes?

Answers to unimportant metaphysical philosophy aside, Draga brought Naingozzu back to his hand and prepared to fight.

 **I know of you, Tzeentch, and that surrender is a bluff. A few victories are hardly enough.**

The Chaos God actually had been in the process of making a surrendering gesture, but the lyrics kind of answered for the both of them. Tzeentch just shrugged, fully prepared to reengage.

He didn't have to, if the sword embedding itself into his forehead was the slightest indication.

 **I have forever- an unlimited number of chances- so I know you'll fall to my advances.**

They rained blows on each other to varying degrees of success. Rather, varying for Draga- none of Tzeentch's attacks really mattered against an infinite health opponent.

That changed, slightly, when Draga made a different kind of realization. The Avatar's he'd already slain left their bodies behind, floating about empty space as corpses. That was important, as Tzeentch learned first hand when one was immediately Consumed for its power.

 **Three, four, five, six, seven, eight.**

Kills lined up in sequence- though the numbers weren't accurate to how many avatars he'd cut apart- and he just kept going. The manifestations of Tzeentch's will were as numerous as the daemons themselves, which were uncountable.

Despite that, a smile adorned Draga's face as he tore through their ranks.

 **Oh, looks like death is your fate.**

Each slaughtered avatar or Daemon was devoured, becoming nothing more than fuel for the fire as he raged on.

Emotions faded, but the satisfaction returned with each new kill, and it rapidly became clear just how fruitless Tzeentch's aims were. He wasn't going to win with just an avatar.

 **The numbers rise, as does the rate.**

His Strength didn't actually rise all that much, which made sense. Tzeentch was strong, but that was born from his magics, which was why it became all the more satisfying. The increases to his Intelligence and Wisdom buffed almost all of his skills and gave him new ones.

Like this one.

 **And this is when I call checkmate.**

Draga had to question the choice of words. It didn't fit much, even if he was unleashing the Mairat upon Tzeentch. Sure, it destroyed the very essence of his being so completely as to leave the space he occupied devoid of energy, but that didn't really matter.

He literally just came back a second later.

 **A million draws, a billion losses.**

Could they even be called losses, when he was functionally immortal? Both him and Draga stopped to listen for the next one.

 **You showed me what true loss is.**

Again, he hadn't, but he was in a position to do that, should Draga fail, but it wouldn't really be his problem at that point.

 **In the end, though? When all is said and done?**

Draga sighed, ignoring the lyrics entirely. Whatever The Game did or didn't know, it was wrong here,

 **I think we both know...**

Each of them surged forward- skipping past teleportation in order to unleash their most devastating strikes. What was easily billions of strength on both side, with both far surpassing the speed of light... It was an odd experience.

 **I've already won.**

Being deleted, that was, though he hardly remembered it. Gamer's Body rebuilt him anew a moment later, remembering the bright flash that consumed him a moment earlier, but with his next waking second a little after it- the both of them surrounded by vast stretches of empty space where once there had been the moon. _Ugh... I'm gonna have to rebuild that later, aren't I?_

If it wasn't abundantly clear before the battle started, this confrontation confirmed how impossible it was to fight Tzeentch. He'd had a few chances to kill his manifestation, which were fine, but that only really delayed him.

Not that he'd expected any different. Now he just needed to- _no._ It was hard not to think on the plan, made all the worse that he still had to go through the motions, be he had to.

Regardless, it was clear to both of them that fighting wasn't getting anywhere. Now was the perfect time to escape.

The God came into focus, bringing him from what little remained of the moon back to Remnant. Specifically, he landed in the underground chamber where he'd originally fought the Arachne, which was just small enough to inconvenience Tzeentch's current form. He could change it, but that took a moment of thought, and he only needed that instant.

One hand ripped through the air- both literally and figuratively, given the speeds it was moving- and tore open a Universal Clock augmented Dimensional Door.

He didn't go inside, and couldn't have if he'd tried. By the time it opened, Tzeentch was back, and the bulk of his right hand barred the way. His inarguably most broken skill, The God didn't allow him to pass through Dimensional Doors from a distance, a fact which might have annoyed him if he didn't _need_ a good reason not to use it.

Tzeentch narrowed his eyes, taking action before Draga did, and completely changing his choice of assault. He knew the futility the fight as well as anyone else, and while it was clear he'd enjoyed most of it, he did still want to actually win.

That's why it came as no surprise that Remnant faded away into nothing, leaving only a vast abyss of white around them both.

It wasn't completely white anymore, which was a surprise unto itself. Streaks of various colors- primarily a fiery orange, but including shades of both blue and pink- blurred about in the distance, perhaps intended to represent his emotions.

The Chaos God seemed to recognize it at least. Glanced around with his multitude of eyes, with only the two on his main head remaining on his intended target. He spoke, and had the courtesy to actually move his lips as he did despite the lack of an atmosphere negating actual sound from doing anything. **"I like this place... It's nice, and empty."**

As if caused by his words, though more likely the result of Gamer's Mind, the lights fizzled out. That only made Tzeentch smile.

 **"I see... That's why I felt nothing but anger or mirth from you before."** His grin grew, stretching well beyond the point where a normal face would have broken. **"But here- here I can smell it. Your fear."**

* * *

 **Welcome to the final frontier- Draga's own soul. I know, it's not the space exploration golden age most people think of with that term, but it is the last location a fight will ever take place in this series.**

 **And, what's this? Draga needs to battle the immortal and nearly all powerful space deity in a realm where _all_ of his Game powers are negated? That _is_ a shame, isn't it?**

 **Hopefully you all remembered that, but it's worth a reminder or two. It will be explained in the next chapter, too, so no worries there.**

 **See you all tomorrow for the release of Will-12.**


	94. Will-12 (The Grand Finale)

**It feels strange to just be... Done. Fickle Things has a rewrite coming on Litnet, which was already started and is currently a few chapters in, but... It feels inherently separate. That's probably due to, in part, the changes the story and characters had to undergo to be publishable, but...**

 **I don't know. I feel like this is the ending to a tale that somehow hasn't even reached the midway point, despite this ending actually being a part of the original plan and a thought in the back of my mind the entire way through.**

 **I want to personally thank everyone who has read this far, and I know exactly how to do so. It won't be immediate, but... I want to reward those who read this far and have with it even when- let's be real- I was a complete novice in the beginning.**

 **There are a few ideas in my mind, and I _will_ be doing one of them, but I also want to hear if you guys have any thoughts. If you have any suggestions, pass them by me.**

 **The one I am doing- or will do in the future, since I can't yet- is giving you all free access to the rewritten and published version of the book once it's finished. If you would like one, once it's complete, please send an email to the g-mail TMinusBoomOfficial. I have to write it like that cause FF is a jerk and won't let me write things in properly.**

 **You can give suggestions in said email or by pming/reviewing here.**

 **This offer _is_ going to go down with the story when it drops in February, so I wouldn't wait if you would want it.**

 **Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy the finale of Fickle Things.**

* * *

The physical battle was lost, but it was never about that. It had always been setup... Setup for something greater than he could ever manage through power alone. Unfortunately, it would take time, which seemed to be something Tzeentch was unwilling to grant him.

Having been caught within the God's realm, and with no time or chance to escape, he was unable to resist the penetration of his mind.

 **"I see... That's why I felt nothing but anger or mirth from you before."** His grin grew, stretching well beyond the point where a normal face would have broken. **"But here- here I can smell it. Your fear."**

Draga couldn't, but he also lost all of his sensory abilities here. None of his skills had ever worked in his soul before, and a quick attempt to call upon Extrasensory Perception confirmed that it was still true now. Theoretically, Tzeentch should also be missing a number of his abilities, but his actual body was capable of a lot more than Draga's.

Still, as the Chaos God's maw showed off two rows of pearly white teeth, he had to doubt how well the fight was going to go.

Death shouldn't be possible here, for either side, leaving them with a battle for control which Tzeentch would almost definitely win. He'd just have to do his best.

 **Background Music enabled: Mind Games [Minor Parody - 1.5x speed] - Sickick**

 **There's another side that you don't know, you don't know**

Tzeentch lunged forward, one of his clawed fingers outstretched as thought to impale him. By the scales of their earlier fight, his speed was pitiful, to the point where he could literally dodge it with his normal human speed.

Problem was, he'd yet to really practice moving here- never had reason to- and his momentary failure to move was enough.

 **I can't wait to get you all alone, all alone**

Rather than pierce him, as it had many times before, the appendage threw him backwards an undefined distance. A white void wasn't exactly the best measurement tool, but it was far enough that he was safe for a few seconds.

That time was enough to get his bearings and learn- if not exactly master- the thought based movement of his soul. There was no walking, for there was nothing to walk on, which just left willing himself to move.

 **Once I'm in there ain't no letting go, letting go**

Tzeentch hadn't attacked again, content to watch him for the moment as he floated about the meditative stance he often used when revealing himself. His main eyes were closed, too, though that hardly mattered with how many others he had.

Draga only had to wonder what he was up to for a second.

 **Watch me turn your mind into my home**

Reality flashed once, changing from the familiar void to a rocky plateau he'd seen once before- when John inadvertently made him commune with Tzeentch the first time. It was devoid of life, yet it all moved as though an unseen force demanded the labyrinthine valleys below be impassable.

With the benefit of not being imprisoned at the time, Draga could actually admit he liked the place. It was in continuous motion, despite the lack of living things, which actually made it a _better_ place to train or study. The sky, too, was more active than before, though the clouds were difficult to see against the still white backdrop of his soul.

 **Ooo, Ooo, Ooo (Mind mind games until you lose control)**

In hindsight, it was a terrible idea to just float about gawking at the terrain, but what could he say? He admired the place, even as weird as it was, and it wouldn't be wise to ignore the new battlefield either.

Still, taking an open palmed strike from Tzeentch and crashing through a few feet of stone was probably a bad thing.

 **Ooo, Ooo, Ooo (Mind mind games mind games mind games)**

Despite his far more human body, there was no pain as he pushed himself up from the rocky plain. It's not that Gamer's Mind had removed it, but that it had never appeared at all, a fact that only became emphasized when Tzeentch crashed his hand atop him again.

The man shaped hole he ended up in was deeply uncomfortable, yet no painful, and he found no cuts of scrapes across his body as he ran a quick scan of his form.

 **Now that I'm in there's no letting go - And your emptiness begins**

His thoughts ran- not coming up with plans, but rather commanding the world around him to obey. As it had for Tzeentch, it did, and soon he was returning the watchful gaze of the levitating old one.

So, they had free control over the world, huh? Battling someone inside a lucid dream... That sounded fun. How would someone win, though?

 **Once I grip onto your mind and soul - Your brightness starts to dim**

Tzeentch set about answering that as he meditated once more. Draga watched intently as the elder god just sort of levitated there for a moment.

What he was doing was subtle, and difficult to tell at the time, but it quickly became clear as he noticed the light reflecting off of Tzeentch's skin darken. A quick glance confirmed that the sky was dropping in shades, which didn't take any wild leaps in logic to guess was a bad thing.

 **Sin after sin you won't feel no more - And you've lost your trust again**

If he needed to meditate for it, that was fine- he could stop that, and if he could do the same? Well... He was always good at multitasking, and had only gotten better. _Chara, can you figure that out for me?_

He didn't wait on her answer, already thinking of how to stop Tzeentch. Violence might have worked, but the size difference was inconvenient, and his physical power here might have scaled with his mental prowess outside. Instead, Draga simply imagined something that could stop him: Bolt and Caelem.

 **You know I wish I could let you know - That you're breathing but you're dead**

Since they weren't actually real, and instead figments of Draga's imagination, there was no confusion between the two as they manifested above Tzeentch. Instead, they fell rapidly and drew upon what little he knew of their absurd abilities.

Bolt's entire body writhed with chakra, too many colors overlapping with one another to even describe as he drew upon the sword at his belt. Draga had never seen the blade itself, since Bolt had been strong enough to solo the entire Enchanted Cave without it, but that just gave him the freedom to make it a leaf-patterned damascened katana.

Caelem offered less flexibility in his approach, since his abilities were mostly elemental and he didn't carry a weapon around, but it was still satisfying to see his twelve wings unveil and shoot him forward.

 **I can lie to you and tell you you can get me out your head**

Lacking a weapon, Caelem opted for a different tact- grabbing onto Bolt's falling form and hurling him at Tzeentch.

That came to an abrupt and unsatisfying end when, just before cutting into Tzeentch's neck, a completely different fighter appeared beside the Old One and blocked it on his own blade. It didn't even take a glance to recognize what Tzeentch had conjured, but he turned anyway, meeting the fiery eyes of another Chaos God- identified above his head as Khorne, Lord of Skulls.

 **But I'm lovin' all the pain I'm causing you too much instead**

Tzeentch had stopped his meditation, which would hopefully give him time to work with, but it took only a moment of combat between Bolt, Caelem, and Khorne to see that it wouldn't be ending any time soon.

It would be back to square one if not for the fact Tzeentch had actually done part of what he'd wanted...

 **There's another side that you don't know, you don't know**

Draga wracked his brain, thinking of all of the people he'd met along the way and drawing them into the fight. Even those who would normally just die in seconds, like Schwarz, could at least serve as a distraction for one or more of the stronger fighters.

All around him, people just appeared. Draga, Mesan, both Sora from Akilahara and Disboard, Tet, John, Malkuth, Kirase, Xander, the list went on. Tzeentch, meanwhile, only brought together two more to join him and Khorne- fellow Chaos God's, all breaking the level system, by the names Slaanesh and Nurgle. _The one with the god killing acid._

 **I can't wait to get you all alone, all alone**

At the thought, said brew appeared in his hands, which actually made Draga flinch. He hadn't meant to-

The moments distraction cost him. A colossal red blade, wielded by Khorne in one hand despite the immense size, slammed down atop him in a way that would have smeared most mortals. Thanks to the dreamlike state they were in, he was just send whirling backwards until he collided with a cliff face, but that offered Tzeentch further opportunities.

 **Once I'm in there ain't no letting go, letting go**

Whilst his brethren engaged Draga's allies, Tzeentch floated up towards the sky as he resumed his meditation. He kept a few hundred eyes out, meaning he wasn't remotely vulnerable as a consequence, and Draga was left without further help.

 _Dammit..._ All of his abilities were moot- he'd thought of his skills before and, thought Nurgle's Brew came to him, they hadn't. What did that leave him with?

 **Watch me turn your mind into my home**

He wasn't offered the chance to think of something before the world warped again. A fitting description, considering the realm his soul now resembled.

Chaos didn't even begin to describe it. Daemons, soldiers, odd alien creatures, fluid terrain, and swirling vortexes stretched out as far as the eye could see, which aligned with Tet's limited knowledge of the Warp. _Wait. That's it._

 **Ooo, Ooo, Ooo (Mind mind games until you lose control)**

It didn't matter what he was capable of or who he knew- Tet had traveled the multiverse. He didn't have an eidetic memory, which sucked, but he still remembered a lot from his adventures. Draga looked back, recalling some large groups that he could bring in all at once.

The entire Greek and Roman pantheons descended on Tzeentch, forcing him to defend against their various weapons. He managed quite well, since he seemed as indestructible as Draga was, but there was no denying that his strength was far higher here. Despite dozens of lesser gods pushing against him, he was able to bat them aside with ease.

 **Ooo, Ooo, Ooo (Mind mind games until I gain control)**

 **"I've got it."** Draga blinked, but then turned his eyes to the sky. Despite the second transition, it hadn't changed, and he could see it slowly reverting to the white it had started at. **"Can you handle him?"**

He didn't really have much of a choice, now did he?

 **Tzeentch, you think you know me - Holdin' back my dark thoughts so long, not my cup of tea**

All manner of monsters joined the fight against the Chaos Gods. Grimm poured from the sky as Hokori appeared below and took the fight to the others. Khorne was enjoying himself, but the other two seemed to at least struggle to hold the wave of creatures back with only physical force. That was probably why they used Daemons in the first place.

That left him to deal with Tzeentch directly. Unfortunately, picturing his grizzly death at the hands of Naingozzu only brought the blade into his hands, leaving him to float up towards him.

 **You're bitchin' here 'cause there's too much that you can't see**

He was distracted enough by his various summons that- while he'd definitely seen him with one of his innumerable eyes- he wasn't in a position to defend from the first slash of his sword. It didn't dig into his flesh, further confirming their inviolability here, but did earn him the Old One's attention.

Which meant someone more equipped to hit him- Ares, by his nameplate- was able to ram a spear into him and shove his body into the hands of the other gods..

 **Take advantage, say "I'll beat you here" but never show me**

Draga didn't stop there. He, along with all those around him, dashed to land more attacks and keep him stunned up.

Tzeentch was kicked around, struck with innumerable blows, and generally kept bouncing between strikes as they forcefully occupied his thoughts.

 **Someone told me you can only disguise and be pretend**

A moments distraction was created by a simple flash of light which emanated from Tzeentch's body. Exactly why that was needed became clear as he burst through a few of the weaker gods- those for various kinds of plants, if he recalled, and left behind a little present.

Such an eruption of flames had little effect on them, since everyone who was actually engaged with the Chaos God was immune to fire, but it still served to give him a moment of space which he used to draw weapons of his own- a pair of swords in his hands and spears for the tentacles growing out from his back.

 **"The tears manifest sometimes, my only friend"**

The voice change was sudden, and it actually took a second to confirm it _wasn't_ Chara that was singing, but he'd learned from his earlier mistakes and didn't stop the onslaught over the distraction. It was still strange how similar the voice was...

But he had bigger things to worry about. Draga joined the charge, and though he was thrown backwards rather easily by a broad swing of one sword, he was hardly alone in the endeavor.

 **"It wasn't ever enough; I'll see you in the end"**

And they would. Win or lose, Chara would be the last person he'd speak to. Obviously, Tzeentch didn't count.

That first part though... Not exactly a mood lifter.

 **"Thinking you're winning, with all of your grinning, but we'll get the last laugh..."**

 _Heh._ Tzeentch certainly wasn't grinning. Even as he'd been musing to himself, his allies had stunlocked him again.

As for the last laugh part... Draga still didn't know how to win, which kind of ruined that idea. This fight wasn't exactly something he could succeed at, so the plan for after needed to- Another explosion erupted from Tzeentch, this time directly from him as he created the smallest of openings for himself amidst the melee.

 **"I can lie to you and tell you we can't get you out our head..."**

While everyone made to engage, a wave of purple energy put a stop to that- creating a barrier that not even Naingozzu was able to pierce. Tzeentch growled, the sound visceral and demonic. His teeth barred, and a wave of his hand dismissed the entire reality around them- his summons included.

Some primal part of his brain warned him of danger- a survival instinct that shouldn't have existed in his head anymore- and he reflexively moved back a step. Perhaps he should have attacked instead, for Tzeentch's eyes glowed with infernal power as he said a single word. **"Enough."**

 **"But I'm lovin' watching you think your controlling us instead, singing..."**

The song faded to a stop right there, unfinished, for the conflict was over. It seemed impossible, but in that one moment... whether by drawing upon the power of his other selves or some other means, the entire sky had gone black.

Despite the loss, the smallest of smiles graced his lips. Of course, under the cover of darkness, no one would know but him.

* * *

 **Your body has been taken over! The status effect [One With Chaos] has reached MAX!**

Ah, victory. It was such a sweet and rejuvenating feeling, made all the moreso for just who he'd defeated. The kid didn't really matter too much, but the Primordial too- locked away within the boys mind along with him; for such a powerful being to surrender its own strength was just... Just disgraceful.

One of his new hands reached up in the air, calling a fireball into being. It wasn't the boys power, but rather a way to confirm this new forms connection to the warp, and he quickly snuffed it out after.

It would suffice. He only really needed to exist to spread the Warp anyway, but it would have been unfortunate if he couldn't revive this body as well. As useful as Bill Cipher had been, being able to create his own Dimensional Doors was far better.

Speaking of, the late Draga Konungur had seen fit to leave one of them behind- a last ditch effort to escape. What better way to honor his effective death than to claim that dimension for them?

Lifting up off the ground through his psychic abilities- a form of laziness, perhaps, but a regal one- Tzeentch floated on through the portal.

The destination was a homely little tavern, in which his entrance didn't even seem that unusual. A number of different species were around, ranging from a pair of lowly humans having some heated discussion in the corner- and the equally mundane werewolf pretending to be one of them- to the Mozirek working at the bar. Perhaps he'd steal the Mozirek's body too, after setting up the Warp.

Tzeentch's left eye twitched slightly as he approached the bar, though he couldn't tell why. Shoddy craftsmanship, probably. Whoever first decided humans were gonna be the hot new thing really overstated their biology. I mean, really, when you're being handily beaten by what amounts to sentient blobs of flesh, you've clearly messed up somewhere.

He'd deal with the Tyranids later.

It would be another thirty seconds or so before the Warp set in, so he hailed the bartender down with one hand and ordered what the man called a 'Texas Wedding', whatever that was. Who knows, if it was good enough, perhaps he'd spare the tavern itself.

His eye twitched again, and this time he got worried. There wasn't any pressure in his mind from Draga- which was, itself, terrifying. Why wouldn't he be trying to take over the body again? Sure, it would never work, but that hadn't stopped humanity from fighting Chaos for thousands of years anyway.

A third movement, and Tzeentch frowned- or tried to. The muscles of a human face were still so unfamiliar, no matter how useful the body was. As a God, whenever he'd wanted to show his displeasure, he just killed a few billion mortals. Somehow, this was harder.

 **Background Music enabled: Mind Games [Minor Parody] - Sickick**

The window was before him, as it had been since he'd acquired the body- one of the many leftovers of the idiots life. Growling, Tzeentch willed them all closed, and they vanished.

Except for that one.

There wasn't any actual music to accompany the message, though, so what did-

 **There's another side that you don't know, you don't know**

Well, there was the music. Tapping into Draga's memories about it, the music came up when there was someone strong to fight. Clairvoyance came over him- the perspective actually more natural to him than puny mortal eyes- and he scanned the room.

 **I can't wait to get you all alone, all alone**

Tzeentch looked all around, but didn't spy anyone looking for a fight. Being able to read their thoughts, both through his own power and Draga's, confirmed that more than eyes ever could. There just... Wasn't a boss to fight.

 **Once you're in there, ain't no letting go, letting go**

His entire being tried to thrust itself from Draga's body, leaving the mortal shell behind, but the man in question held on from within his mind. It was weak- weaker than him by a long measure- but it was enough to delay his escape for the briefest of moments.

 **Watch me turn your mind into my own**

The ring hissed loudly as steam and heat escaped from it.

 **Kembar activated.**

* * *

The burning sensation served as a fine reminder why you always get items checked for curses before you put them on. Sure enough, he couldn't tear it off, as the damn thing grafted to his finger the instant he put it on.

Even his Inventory didn't help, bringing up an error message when he tried to remove it from the equipment slot.

Pain... Pain he could get used to, particularly burning. Being raised in a realm of burning typically helped you get used to that, but the rapid dropping of his HP was more of a concern. Healing would help, but, well...

Draga hadn't unlocked any yet. He'd only just started an hour ago.

 **Kembar activated.**

Another voice joined within his head, ranting and raving as it seemed to struggle with something- probably the ring, if the ring was acting the same for him. It didn't sound human, and certainly wasn't in a language he understood, but he understood the rage and fear within it. It roiled in anguish, the pressure of that rolling over and into his head as well.

Kembar continued to burn his finger, but the pain of that was nothing compared to the lances in his head. They came from all directions, his very thoughts overwhelmed by the sheer madness from whatever he'd linked with.

Draga instinctively fell to the stone floor, uselessly clutching at the sides of his head as though it would be enough to stop the torment. It wasn't, with the agony only getting worse as the volume of the shouting in his head grew. Other sensations came to mind, the feeling of grass and dirt as he seemingly writhed in a forest as well, but that only doubled the agony he had to endure.

It stopped.

That realization alone was slow, with his mind lagging on even recognizing how the effect ended. He felt mildly embarrassed, with Caelem and Xander staring at him, but that honestly meant nothing in comparison to what he'd just gone through.

 _Fuck, Tet- I am never putting another of your items on again._

Even more annoying, the item didn't even grant him any bonuses. Ugh...

Draga dismissed the notification of Gamer's Mind blocking whatever the effect was called, not wishing to think on it any longer, and stood back up. If that was how Tet wanted to play it, he'd just have to prove his ability despite him.

* * *

 **The effects of [Tzeentch] have been negated by Gamer's Mind!**

That was an interesting way to phrase it.

Draga warped up to his feet, the utter laziness of the gesture not lost on him, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He'd won, and a smile graced his face.

It wasn't even wiped away when the emotions faded. Just as his anger at Tet had replenished itself, so too did the satisfaction he felt at taking the Chaos God down. He wasn't dead, he wasn't trapped, and he wasn't removed from existence.

His mind was.

Just as the Old Deus need to exist for the very function of Disboard, yet can lie dormant an inactive for eons, so too can Tzeentch. The eldritch horror had even been kind enough to mentally link with all the other incarnations of himself that he'd met.

Someone was even kind enough to slip into the deities place afterwards, and the absence of his companion was duly noted- at least until she beamed a message into his head and he remembered why he'd like the idea so much when it first came up.

 **"Of course I get the gigantic monstrosity as a body- you couldn't have at least made it female, huh?"**

Draga rolled his eyes, looking up to the still active form of Tzeentch. "You can literally change that on a whim, Chara." He didn't know exactly how it worked, but Tzeentch had changed appearance a few times, and he doubted the growth of two monstrous tentacles and a more human face was a natural development for a Chaos God.

 **"Uh huh,"** she said, rolling her eyes as well, though the gesture was a lot less comfortable with _hundreds_ of eyes littered all across her body. **"Congratulations are in order, I suppose. I'm not exactly the right person for the job, but..."** Tzeentch was gone and he _really_ didn't want to talk to Tet quite yet.

He got the point, and accepted without comment. "I'd better get back to Remnant and start undoing the damage we caused..." It wouldn't be too hard, since neither of them was affected by timelines. Just reversing the universal time to before the fight would remove all problems, while also allowing him to theoretically help himself.

Even then, he still had that promise to Malkuth to deal with too...

 _Heh. Even after all this time, I'm still busy._ Not really a complaint, just an observation. With one final glance towards the newest Chaos God, Draga turned into a Dimensional Door and left.

Onwards and forwards.


End file.
